


Like Romeo And Juliet, She'd Say

by xoxog (JoshDunBuns)



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Asexual Character, Asexual Tyler Joseph, I mean its me writing this so of COURSE there's gonna be shameless smut, M/M, Romance, Smut, but also this one might be more plot focused, eros/psyche - Freeform, i dont really know how else to tag this one, um
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-07-28 21:16:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 54,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7657030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoshDunBuns/pseuds/xoxog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eros/Psyche story rewritten as joshler because I'm trash. </p><p>The God of love takes offense at the songs written by an up-and-coming musician named Tyler Joseph, and orders one of his subordinates, a winged deity named Josh, to find a way to stop the singer. </p><p>So what happens when Josh visits the mortal world to carry out his master's bidding, only to hear one of Tyler's songs on the radio and fall madly in love with Tyler himself? He can't bring himself to ruin the singer's life, now.<br/>But Erotes like Josh are forbidden to fall in love, let alone fall in love with mortals the God has taken issue with. </p><p>What's a stupid Cupid to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm falling, so I'm taking my time

Blurry was angry, today. Josh could feel it.

 

It was a change in the atmosphere that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up in alarm as soon as he stepped into the room. It was Blurry’s clenched fists tight on the iPad in his hand, the set in his jaw, the bright flash in his red eyes.

Josh swallowed, and steeled himself to stay calm.

 

“You heard of this guy? Tyler Joseph?”  
Blurry’s voice was calm and low, carefully controlled. Josh shook his head.

Blurry lifted the tablet and turned it to show Josh. On the screen was a NME article - “small-town songwriter hits it big with FBR record deal”. A photo showed a scrawny, nervous-looking man with dark brown hair that was fashionably tousled up, dressed nicely and clutching a ukulele.  
He looked like any other sweet teen heartthrob discovered through Youtube cover videos. Blink, and he could be mistaken for another cookie-cutter singer – one of the One Direction boys, maybe.

The only real distinction of individuality was maybe the tattoos – black bands around the boy’s arm that stood out stark against his tan skin. Or the ukulele – Josh hadn’t seen many of these singers carrying around one of those. Usually it was a guitar or piano, or even just the mic alone. He guessed that was part of the boy’s unique brand. He’s the one with the uke, unlike all the _other_ teen heartthrob singers.

Josh glanced up at Blurry. He couldn’t figure out what about this completely normal-looking boy had drawn the god’s ire this time. Did Blurry have a thing against ukuleles?

 

Blurry was scowling now. “You recognise him?”  
  
Josh shook his head.

 

“What about his music? You heard it?”  
  
Josh shook his head again.

Blurry gestured angrily at the screen with one blackened hand. “He’s lauded as being a master of _love songs,_ ” he growled, “for writing sweet romantic ballads that any fifteen-year-old can pretend is about them. But I _know_ him, I know his heart. I know all their hearts. They might all be in love with him, but this one? He’s never even experienced love. These aren’t love songs. I don’t know what he’s writing about, but he hasn’t written a single love song in his life.”  
  
Josh blinked. Oh.

“He’s not heartless, though, is he?” Josh asked. “I mean, he’s got to have a family. Or a cat, or something.”  
  
“Well, _yeah,_ ” Blurry snorted. “I mean – familial love, platonic love and all that, sure. He’s close with his family, he’s got some close friends. But he’s never fallen in love, never even had a crush. I don’t know what his problem is. Maybe he’s asexual, or aromantic. But the point is, everyone – including my own followers – are virtually worshipping this guy for his ‘love songs’, _and he doesn’t even know what love is._ ”

 

Ohhh.

 

Blurry dropped the tablet on the desk, folding his arms tightly across his chest. “So yeah, I’m pissed,” he snapped. “I’m their patron, I’m the God of love, and here they are worshipping some mortal kid who wouldn’t know love if it whacked him over the skull. It’s insulting.”

“So.. what do you want to do?” Josh asked.

“I want you to stop him,” Blurry said. “I want all this to stop. I don’t know. Make him fall in love with some controlling asshole who won’t let him write any more songs. Or some high-maintenance lover who’ll take up all his time so he can’t write. Someone who’ll make him stop writing. I don’t care who, just make him stop, okay?”  
  
“Alright,” Josh said. “That all?”  
  
“That’s all,” Blurry said. “Consider yourself dismissed.”

 

Josh turned and left the study.

Part of him was frustrated – this was just some kid who was doing his own thing. Technically, he wasn’t consciously insulting the god or blaspheming him. It wasn’t like he’d turned around and claimed to be prettier than Blurry, or something.

But Blurry had taken issue anyway. And Blurry, being the most petty god in the entire Olympus pantheon, couldn’t just let this one kid go – no, he had to ruin his life instead, just to satisfy some revenge against an imagined insult.

Josh thought it was ridiculous, but he’d never tell Blurry that. And he wasn’t surprised. Blurry was notorious for doing stuff like this.  
If he could interpret an insult out of something, he would. And if he thought he was being insulted or embarrassed, he’d take morbid offense and demand something be done. This was nothing new.

 

It was annoying, though. Carrying out Blurry’s petty revenge for every imagined slight was exhausting.

 

And, Josh thought as he grabbed his bow and quiver and left the god’s mansion home, he felt bad for the kid, too.  
He wasn’t doing anything wrong. Just living a dream, doing something he loved. He didn’t deserve to have all that taken away and be forced into a relationship with a toxic person, just because Blurry was a petty asshole.

But Josh couldn’t do anything.  
He beat his wings – a great pair of white falcon-like wings, smattered with darker iridescent feathers around his shoulders – and took off, leaving Blurry’s domain for the mortal world.

 

He was an Erote – a servant of the love god, tasked with carrying out his every whim. Which, for Josh, was usually making people fall in love with each other.

His bow and arrows weren’t for killing or maiming – each arrow was tipped with a special sort of magic that only Josh knew, that induced overwhelming love in any victim he shot. The victim would fall in love with the first person they saw, and if he shot the other person too, that made their love reciprocal.

 

He didn’t usually get to choose who fell in love with who, though. That was Blurry’s call. And sometimes he’d had to set up couples doomed to disastrous relationships – married people with others who weren’t their spouse, incompatible couples who would eventually destroy each other.

 

And now he was setting up a relationship to specifically destroy an innocent person’s life and career.

 

Josh hated his job.

 

He liked it when he got to set up nice relationships, though. Something about seeing a couple – or even a polyamorous group – spending time together, being in love and happy and supporting, taking care of each other – it made his heart swell. He loved seeing, and bringing together, happy relationships.

 

Sometimes they made him wish he could fall in love, too.

 

But Blurry forbade the Erotes from ever falling in love.

“It’s too dangerous,” he said, once. “At best, you’ll be distracted from your work, you’ll prioritise your lover over me and my work – which you must serve first and foremost, always. At worst? You’ll fight, you’ll have heartbreak, you’ll break up. And then you’ll be a broken, useless mess until you can pull yourself together long enough to only to fall in love again.”  
  
“Love is a drug,” Blurry cautioned them. “It’s addictive. And, like heroin or meth, it’ll destroy you. Look at the wars and violence these mortals carry out in the name of love. Love for a woman, love for a god, love for an idea, a way of life. They destroy themselves for it. Don’t let it destroy you, too.”

 

And here was Josh, about to destroy someone else’s life with it.

 

He landed gently in the middle of a street, somewhere in the mortal city where the singer lived with his family. People passed by without notice, as if a divine being hadn’t just drifted down from the sky into their lives.  
Down here, nobody could see his wings, or bow and quiver, or his own unearthly beauty – he had glamours that allowed him to appear mortal enough to remain invisible to others.

Sort of. The glamour didn’t hide his pink hair, or tattoos. Fortunately, tattoos were fairly commonplace now, and the invention of bright hair dyes meant he didn’t get the same stares he used to get centuries ago.

But he still got the occasional odd look and delighted yell from an overcurious child. And as long as people only thought he was a punk, or children thought he was a fairy, he didn’t mind.

 

He hopped onto a bus, careful to tuck his wings flat against his back as he joined the crush of commuters. The glamour only hid his wings from view, they didn’t make them less cumbersome in peak traffic.

And peak traffic it was – not a single seat was free, so Josh hung onto a pole in the middle of the bus and focused on keeping his wings from reflexively bracing against the lurches of the rumbling bus.

He was so focused on keeping his wings from running errant and accidentally hitting someone that he nearly missed the DJ’s voice on the tinny bus radio.  
_“And coming up, Jessica called in with a request for more Tyler Joseph – we’re getting a lot of requests for this guy! This one’s for you, Jessica.”_  
  
Josh pricked his ears, curious. He hadn’t heard Tyler’s music yet, so he was curious to see if it was really as blasphemous as Blurry had made it out to be.

 

A soft, high voice floated down from the speakers.

 

“ _I do not know why I would go  
In front of you and hide my soul”_

 

Josh raised his eyebrows. He didn’t have a half-bad voice.

  
_“Cause you're the only one who knows it,  
Yeah you're the only one who knows it_

 _And I will hide behind my pride_  
_Don't know why I think I can lie_  
_'Cause there's a screen on my chest_  
_Yeah there's a screen on my chest”_

Josh found himself bobbing his head from side to side. It was a really nice song.  
He could see how it could be mistaken for a love song, but also how it might not be a love song.

At that point, he didn’t really care. He _really liked_ this song.

 _“I'm standing in front of you_  
_I'm standing in front of you_  
_I'm trying to be so cool_  
_Everything together trying to be so cool”_

Josh blinked. His heart was fluttering a bit.

He hadn’t felt this way about anything for, well, he couldn’t remember. He wasn’t sure why, but something about the song – the plucky uke chords, Tyler’s clear voice – was tugging at his chest, making his cheeks hot and fire boil in his stomach _and he really, really shouldn’t be feeling this way just from a song._

The song ended, and with it the butterflies cascading in Josh’s stomach. He took a deep breath, but then another caller request for Tyler’s songs came through, and another not-love-song began, Tyler’s voice pulling at his chest like fingers at violin strings.

 

Josh got off at the next stop, feeling slightly panicky.

 

He walked straight into a music store, flicking through the CDs. His eyes alighted on the new releases, and one CD cover caught his eye.

Tyler’s face in black and white, looking infinitely less nervous and awkward thanks to professional posing and editing, and the text “Tyler Joseph” at the bottom, and “Vessel” at the top in even bigger text.

 

“Breakout #1 Tyler Joseph’s Debut Hit Album”, the sticker slapped on the front informed him. He picked up the CD and brought it to the counter.

 

The skinny teenager behind the counter gave him a funny look. “You a fan?” he asked.

  
“Um, sort of,” Josh mumbled.

 

The kid grinned. “No need to be embarrassed, he’s actually really good, even if he’s got a bunch of fangirls,” he said.  
Josh resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead handing the kid a $20, and taking the CD and change.

 

He left the music shop and marched across to a nearby park, finding a park bench and sitting down, shakily pulling out an old CD Walkman. Outdated in this day and age, but he hadn’t quite caught up to iPods and mp3’s yet.

 

He hit play, and his throat filled with despair as he fell deeper and deeper in love with the soft voice, the oddly upbeat piano and electronica that sounded stark against mournful lyrics that were definitely not about love.

Josh didn’t move, motionless for what must have been at least an hour, until he waited for the next song and only heard silence as the CD’s spinning slowed to a stop in the player. 

He blinked.

He sat there for a while longer, trying to sort through the emotions surging in his chest; worry and fear, because Blurry was going to _know_ about this, he was going to sense immediately that Josh had fallen head over heels for _someone_ ; anger and frustration because he couldn’t even _do_ anything, he was forbidden from love, he shouldn’t have even fallen in love in the first place; and oddly, anticipation, even hope, as if there was some possibility that he could make this even work; and most of all, overwhelmingly, his head and heart was spinning with love.

He stood up.

He wasn’t going to be able to do what Blurry had asked him to do. Not now.

It was going to be hard enough to keep away from Tyler, now. Let alone condemn him to a relationship with another person, much less someone handpicked to ruin his life and make him miserable.  
He couldn’t do it.

 

He walked out of the park and spread his wings, taking off.

 

–

 

When Josh got back to Blurry’s mansion, Blurry was downstairs. He took one look at Josh and scowled.

 

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Blurry snapped. “Look at yourself. You know you’re not even supposed to be able to fall in love, right?”  
  
“I know,” Josh mumbled. “Sorry.”  
  
“Sorry doesn’t do much, moron. Anyway, you know you can’t act on it.”  
  
“I know. I won’t.”  
  
“And you’ve still gotta set Tyler up at some point regardless. I’m not gonna let you put that off.”  
  
“I know. I’ll – I’ll get it done.”  
  
Blurry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Get out of my sight before I get really mad. You’re goddamn pathetic at times, Josh.”

 

Josh sighed, leaving the house.

 

Further on in the expansive floating world that made up each God’s personal domain, the Erotes had their own dwelling – a private shared mansion of their own. It was here that he flew to, and sure enough, the other Erotes had heard about what he’d done.

 

Jesse just grinned at him from where he was buzzing a blender in the kitchen, grey-mottled dove wings tucked behind his back. “You got off light, dude,” he said. “I was expecting you to come back with a busted lip, at the least.”  
  
“Yeah, well, I don’t feel lucky,” Josh sighed. “I feel like an idiot.”  
  
“You _should_ feel like an idiot,” Mark scolded, looking up from a laptop resting on the kitchen counter. His raven wings bristled, iridescent black feathers pointing at anxious angles. “The literal one thing we’re not allowed to do, and you go and do it anyway. You’re lucky you’re Blurry’s favourite.”

 

Jenna walked in through the front door as Mark finished, white swan wings folding behind her back as she headed straight to the kitchen counter.

“Jenna! I got your smoothie,” Jesse called. Jenna just blinked, staring at Josh.

“I don’t know, Jesse, I think Josh is gonna need it more than me,” she said. “Look at him. What did Blurry say, anyway?”

 

“He just.. told me off, I guess,” Josh mumbled. “Said I was an idiot, reminded me I can’t act on it, and told me to leave before he got really angry.”  
  
“He’s probably smashing shit in his house, now – which I’ll have to clean up,” Jesse sighed. “Thanks, Josh. Smoothie?”  
  
“N-no, thanks, sorry,” Josh said. “Um, do you guys even know who it is? That I fell in love with?”  
  
Jenna’s eyes widened. “Who?”  
  
“The singer,” Josh said. He pulled out the CD. “Tyler Joseph?”  
  
The three other Erotes groaned.

 

“You’re kidding,” Mark said, aghast. “Blurry _hates_ that guy. So you go and fall in _love_ with him?”

 

“I didn’t mean to!” Josh protested. “It just – happened, I don’t know.”

 

“You couldn’t have just fallen for some random kid,” Jenna groaned. “No, you had to fall for someone Blurry specifically hates.”  
  
“Well, if you’re gonna break the rules, might as well break them as spectacularly as possible,” Jesse said, sliding a smoothie across the counter to Jenna. “Don’t do anything by halves, and all that.”

 

Another Erote entered the kitchen; Michael, with great eagle wings that barely folded behind his back. He glanced around at the stony-faced group.

 

“What did Josh do?” he asked. Josh grimaced.

 

“Josh fell in love with a mortal,” Jenna said. “And not just any mortal – he fell in love with Tyler Joseph, that singer that Blurry’s pissed about because of his love songs – or, not love songs? Whatever. Either way, Josh messed up.”

Michael snorted. “Wow, Josh,” he said. “You really don’t do anything by halves. Is he at least cute?”  
  
“Well..” Josh slid the CD cover across the counter.

Michael gave the CD an appraising nod. “Well, he’s not Adonis or anything, but he’s cute. Not bad, Josh.”

 

“Stop encouraging him!” Mark snapped. “At this rate, Josh’ll want to bring him home, or something.”  
  
The group fell very quiet. Mark groaned. “No, guys,” he said. “No. No, no, no, no, no. Don’t even think about it. All of our asses would be on the line.”  
  
“But why not?” Jesse asked. “We could keep it secret. Only we would have to know. As long as he stayed here and didn’t leave the house, he’d be fine.”  
  
“What about Blurry? What if Tyler falls in love with Josh? Blurry will know.”  
  
Jenna frowned. “Who says Tyler has to _know_ who he’s in love with?” she said. “If Tyler doesn’t know, Blurry won’t, either.”

 

Mark buried his face in his hands. “That sounds like a terrible idea. It sounds like kidnapping, Jenna. Kidnapping is bad.”  
  
“We’re not _kidnapping_ him,” Jenna scolded. “Just.. taking him to a nice house, letting him get to know a shadowy figure who he can’t ever uncover the identity of, and letting him live in the lap of love and luxury for the rest of his life.”  
  
“That’s exactly what kidnapping is, Jenna. And the whole hidden-identity thing is just so bad. _So_ bad. You can’t expect him to be comfortable with being held captive by some mystery figure he doesn’t know the identity of.”

 

“It’s better than what Blurry has planned for him,” Jesse pointed out. “A mystery lover is better than an abusive partner who’ll take his creative freedom away. At least this way, he still has freedom to write.”

 

Mark sighed. “So, what, you want to look at this as saving a damsel in distress from his planned fate?”  
  
“Kind of, yeah,” Jesse said. “It sounds way nicer than kidnapping.”

 

Mark groaned. “Fine,” he said. “I can deal with damsels in distress. But if we fuck this up, don’t say I didn’t try to tell you all this is a bad idea,” he said, fixing the other Erotes with a glare. “Because kidnapping or saving, whatever we think we’re doing, it’s still a bad idea.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tyler grunted as he loaded the heavy cardboard box marked _“books”_ into the back of the van. “That the last one?”

 

“That’s it!” Maddy called from behind him. “That’s everything.”  
  
“Whew.” Tyler took a step back, observing mover’s van full of boxes and furniture. He looked back at his beaming sister. “Can I get a thanks, or what?”  
  
Maddy laughed. “Thanks, Tyler,” she said. “Look, I’ll even hug you even though you’re all gross and sweaty.”  
She wrapped her arms around him, and Tyler grinned. “Thanks, Mads. Gosh, I can’t believe you’re actually moving all your stuff out.”  
  
“Well, we said I’d move everything out after the wedding,” Maddy said. “I mean, we probably should have got it out when Will and I moved in together, but we didn’t know how things would go... so I guess since we’re definitely not planning on breaking up anytime soon, it seemed safe to move the rest of my stuff into our house!”  
  
“Yeah, marriage is a pretty safe bet that you’re not gonna change plans anytime soon,” Tyler snorted. He bumped his head against Maddy’s. “I can’t believe you’re married now. My lil sister, all grown up. Did you remember to pack your barbies?”

 

Maddy groaned and whacked Tyler. “Shut up. And they’re in the box near the front.”  
  
“You even remembered to pack your barbies! You really are all grown.”

 

The two couldn’t have been more different as siblings; Maddy was blonde and soft with twinkly eyes and a beaming grin, and Tyler was brunette and angular with wide dark eyes, and he tried to keep his smiles closed-mouthed.  
But he was close to Maddy, as with all his siblings, and he would never say it, but seeing the van packed with all of Maddy’s remaining bits and pieces made his chest hurt something awful.

 

Maddy laughed at him. “So that’s me sorted,” she said, “And Zack got married last year... now all we have to do is get Jay hitched. And.. you.” She chewed her lip. “Well, we’ve got to find you someone, to start with.”  
  
Tyler snorted. “Don’t. I’m too busy for dating!”  
  
Maddy rolled her eyes. “Tyler, you said you were busy when you were stuck in Mom and Dad’s basement, unemployed, dropped out from college, and doing nothing but writing music. That excuse was old even then.”  
  
Tyler groaned. He pulled away and headed back to the house, Maddy trailing after him.  
“C’mon, Tyler,” she wheedled as they walked into the living room. “You don’t wanna be single forever, do you? You gotta find someone too.”  
  
“I’m just – I don’t know, not interested in anyone,” Tyler said, flopping onto the couch.

“So, you go out and meet people until you find someone you’re interested in,” Maddy said, flopping down next to him. “I mean, you’re not exactly short of people interested in _you_ , now. You have your pick of the crop these days. You just need to actually pick someone.”

  
“People aren’t flowers,” Tyler snorted. “And... god. I don’t know. I’m not sure about dating and all that, Maddy.”  
  
“Are you gay?” Maddy asked.

Tyler started, sitting bolt upright. _“What?!”_

 

“It’s just a question!” Maddy said, holding her hands up. “I’m not bothered if you are, Tyler. And neither would Mom or Dad be bothered, or Jay, or Zack. We don’t care. We love you as you are, Ty. You don’t have to avoid dating if you’re worried Mom or Dad will flip if you bring a boy home. At this point, I think they just want you to bring _someone_ home.”

 

“That’s not – that’s not it,” Tyler said. “I – god, Maddy. I don’t even know. I’m not – well.”  
  
He chewed his lip. “I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said. “I’m not really.. like, girls and guys are all the same to me, you know?”  
  
“So you’re bi? Or pan?”  
  
“Maybe?” Tyler said. “But.. I don’t know. Because I’m not really.. I’ve never been wildly attracted to either, I guess. Or anyone who’s neither or in between. I mean, I’ll know if someone’s attractive, but it’s not like I’m ever desperate to woo them or anything, does that make sense? I’m just.. ambivalent about everyone, I guess. So I don’t really know what that is. But the point is, nobody’s ever really stood out me before, and I’m doubtful that anyone will, at this point.”  
  
He shrugged. “Maybe love’s just not for me,” he said. “I don’t know. Mom and Dad shouldn’t worry about it, I mean between you and Zack and even Jay, they’re not gonna be short of grandkids.”  
  
“It’s not just about grandkids,” Maddy said. “It’s just.. they want to see you happy and settled, that’s all. And so do we. We love you, Tyler.”  
  
Tyler sighed. “I love you guys too,” he said. “And I’m happy that you’re all happy. But.. look, don’t worry about me, okay? I’m not gonna fall apart without someone else to take care of me. I’ll be fine, okay?”  
  
Maddy sighed. “Okay,” she said. “I’d rather you weren’t just ‘fine’, though. I want you to be _happy_ , not just fine.”

 

“And I’ll get there!” Tyler said, trying to smile at her. “I will. It just might not require another person, you know? Happiness doesn’t have to depend on another person.”

 

“True,” Maddy said. “I know. I just want to know you’re not, I don’t know, restricting your own happiness by not dating or anything. Because you should be happy, Ty. You deserve that.”  
  
“Thanks, Mads,” Tyler said. “But let’s focus on your happiness today, alright? You ready to head back to yours and Will’s?”

 

“God, and then we’ll have to unload everything,” Maddy sighed. “Well, I guess we’d better get it over and done with.”

 

“That’s the spirit,” Tyler laughed. “C’mon, Miss Newlywed. Or Mrs, rather.”

 

What Maddy didn’t tell Tyler is that their parents weren’t just hoping for Tyler’s happiness.  
They were planning on making it happen, whether Tyler wanted it or not.

 

While Maddy and Tyler rumbled out of the family home’s driveway in the van, Mr. and Mrs Joseph were on the other side of town, in the city cathedral.

 

The cathedral was the domain of a particular priest, Father Ambrose, who had a particular specialty in matchmaking.  
Specifically, he had an innate divinatory ability that allowed him to foresee someone’s soulmate. The Josephs had gone to see him when Zack had been married, to ensure his fiancee Tatum was a good match, and again when Maddy had been engaged to Will.

His visions had shown that Tatum wasn’t Zack’s soulmate, but that they’d be a happy life match regardless, and that Maddy and Will were meant for each other. Even Jay’s current girlfriend was confirmed to be a good pick.

 

As for Tyler? He hadn’t had any visions for Tyler yet, but his parents still frequently visited the priest regardless, in case he could come up with something.

 

So the Joseph parents sat in front of the priest yet again, and yet again Father Ambrose smiled and them and folded his hands on the table between them.

 

“Chris, Kelly, good to see you again!” he said. “And congratulations on Maddy’s wedding. I imagine she’s back from her honeymoon?”  
  
“She is,” Kelly confirmed. “Tyler’s helping her moving the rest of her stuff out today, actually, into her and Will’s place. So she’ll be all settled soon.”  
  
“Wonderful,” Father Ambrose said. “And speaking of, how is Tyler? Has he met anyone yet?”  
  
Chris shook his head sadly. “Still single,” he said. “Plenty of folks after him these days, but he’s just not interested. I’d have hoped the whole fame thing might have got him a date or two by now, but if anything he’s even more reluctant.”

 

Father Ambrose shook his head. “That’s a shame,” he said. “Well, I’ll see what I can see this time. Today might be the day!”

He closed his eyes and settled back into his chair.

 

The Josephs knew the drill by now. Father Ambrose would start off by meditating, until he could fall into a trance-like state during which his mind would be the most open to insights. During this trance, he could direct his mind’s wanderings to specific people, and would receive visions relating to them.

He said they came from Zeus, the deity that the cathedral was dedicated to. The Josephs were personally followers of Athena, but they’d accept help from any deity if it meant happiness for their children.

 

Father Ambrose didn’t even need to ask Chris and Kelly to be quiet, now. They sat back, breaths held, and waited.

The trance could last around an hour. Kelly and Chris, however, found themselves still in their seats after two hours. Chris shifted to alleviate a numb leg, and Kelly glared at him.

 

And then, something happened.

 

Father Ambrose grunted. He frowned. He shook his head.

And then he gasped. He scooted back, nearly tipping his chair over. He gripped the chair’s arms, face frozen in a mask of terror. And he screamed.

 

“Father Ambrose?!” Kelly asked nervously. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“C’mon, man,” Chris said, standing up and walking around the table, gently shaking Father Ambrose. “Snap out of it!”  
  
Father Ambrose opened his eyes, but they were glassy and darted around, not seeing Kelly or Chris. He was still in his vision.

 

“A monster!” he yelped. “Red eyes – its going to kill him! Don’t kill him, _please_ -”  
  
Tears leaked out of Father Ambrose’s eyes as he pleaded with some monstrous vision to spare someone. Kelly and Chris looked on in horror as he cried and wailed.

 

And then, the vision stopped.

 

Father Ambrose’s eyes snapped into lucidity, focusing on Chris in front of him.

 

“What happened?” Chris demanded.

 

Father Ambrose’s face crumpled. “Chris, Kelly, I’m so sorry,” he said, voice thick and sorrowful.

 

“I think your son’s future spouse – I’m not sure what gender, I’m sorry – is going to kill him. A monster is going to kill him.”

 

 


	2. I can feel my death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone loves a wedding.  
> Well.  
> Nearly everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw; discussion of impending death and past vague references to depression/suicidal thoughts. Probably not directly triggering, but proceed with caution just in case.

Tyler did not take the news well.

 

He went into the basement in stony silence, retreating to the safety he’d made for himself years before, but no amount of time down there would shake the inevitability of his fate.

 

Father Ambrose could only conclude from the vision that Tyler’s soulmate and future spouse was some sort of shadowy, red-eyed monster that would bring about his death. The details were fuzzy – the identity of the monster was unclear, or even its form.

But Father Ambrose was never wrong. The vision had shades of sacrifice attached to it, he’d said, as if they needed to give Tyler up to the monster to avoid some sort of awful worldly event.

Tyler wasn’t sure about that last bit, but everyone feared the apocalypse, even his parents. So it had been decided to sacrifice him to the monster.

Father Ambrose had offered to hold a joint funeral/wedding ceremony of sorts. Not common, he’d said, but not unusual either – Tyler would not be the first mortal in history to be wedded to a devouring beast, and he wouldn’t be the last.

 

“The ceremony will summon the monster, whatever and where it is,” he’d said. “And officiate the union. On top of that, funerary rites are important so Tyler can pass into the Underworld safely when the monster... when he dies.”  
  


That had been when Tyler’s mom had started crying, and when Tyler left to hide in the basement.

 

Sometime later, he heard the door creak open, and footsteps tap down the basement steps. Tyler took his hands off the keyboard.

Zack emerged. His face was grim and stony, but his eyes were puffy and reddened. Tyler’s chest hurt.

 

“You okay, Ty?” he asked, flopping down on a pile of mattresses near the keyboard. Tyler shrugged.

 

Zack gave him a sympathetic look, and picked up Tyler’s ukulele, plucking a discordant tune on the little instrument. “You come up with any more hits, yet?”  
  
“Not really,” Tyler sighed, resting his cheek on his hand. “It’s hard to think properly when, y’know, you’ve just been told you’re gonna be married off to a shadowy devouring monster. Kind of an inspiration killer.”

 

“That’s fair,” Zack said. He put the uke down.

“You know,” he said. “You don’t.. actually have to go through with this. It might be a false alarm, or something. We could just, y’know, ignore this whole thing and see what happens. Maybe the monster won’t do anything, and you won’t have to marry anyone if you don’t want to.”

 

“That’d be nice,” Tyler mumbled. “But.. Father Ambrose is never wrong, you know that. I don’t want to risk other people getting hurt. It’d be easy for me to pretend like it’ll all be okay, but... it wouldn’t be right.”

 

Zack frowned, but said nothing.

 

“Besides,” Tyler said, cracking a smile. “It makes sense, right? No wonder I’ve never been attracted to anyone. Apparently my sexual preference is actually devouring monsters.”  
  
Zack laughed at that. “You would, you weirdo,” he said. “Hey, maybe it’ll be, like, death by snu-snu.”

 

Tyler groaned. “God, I hope not. Can you _imagine?_ ”

 

The two boys snickered for a moment, then the air grew heavy again. Zack plinked at the ukulele again, fixing his eyes downward.  
Tyler sighed.

“When do they want to hold the funeral?” he asked.

 

Zack snorted. “As soon as possible, Ambrose said,” he said. “He said we should do it tomorrow, but that won’t give us a lot of time to prepare.”  
  
“Yeah, who can organise a wedding-slash-funeral overnight?” Tyler said incredulously.

 

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Zack said, and Tyler looked at him.

Zack was clutching the ukulele very tightly, and he looked on the verge of tears.

 

“Oh, Zacky,” Tyler sighed. He stood up and sat next to his younger brother, pulling him into a hug. Zack stubbornly refused to cry, but Tyler could feel the repressed tears in Zack’s tightly wound muscles.

 

“It’s not fair,” Zack spat out. “You were – you were just getting your shit on track. Things were finally going _good_ for you. And now this?”

 

He sniffed angrily. “We spent so long keeping you fucking alive, keeping your own damn head from killing you. And now that things finally look okay, you’re gonna get taken away anyway. It’s like we were always doomed to lose you.”

 

Tyler shut his eyes, not wanting to remember. But Zack was right. Zack knew probably better than any of his family how bad things had been for Tyler at some points.

 

“I’m just gonna miss you,” Zack gulped, and then Tyler was fighting to hold back tears too.

 

“You’ll be okay,” Tyler said. “You’ve got Tatum, and Mom and Dad, Maddy, Jay. You guys will stick together, yeah? Take care of each other.”  
  
“That doesn’t mean we can just lose you,” Zack said. “It’s not – that’s not how it works. I can’t replace you with Maddy or Jay, and they can’t replace you with me, or something. Tatum’s my wife, but you’re my brother, Ty. We need you, too.”

 

Tyler didn’t have an answer for that.

 

* * *

 

Back in the Erotes’ mansion, Josh was growing frantic.

 

“They think he’s going to be killed!” he yelled. “They’re trying to give him up to some monster that doesn’t even exist, all because of some priest’s half-baked vision! What are they gonna do to him?!”  
  
“Calm down, Josh,” Mark sighed. “Look, you know what? I think we could actually spin this to our advantage.”

 

Josh stared at him. Jenna cocked her head curiously. “How, Mark?” she asked.

 

“Well, they think Tyler’s gonna get spirited away by some monster,” Mark said. “With a bit of imagination, I’m sure we could pull off the spiriting pretty easily. And..” he chewed his lip thoughtfully. “We could even spin the monster story as a cover for Josh. Tyler doesn’t have to know Josh isn’t his monster husband.”

 

“I’m not pretending to be some murderous monster husband!” Josh sputtered. “Are you kidding?”

 

“Better than him knowing you’re a goddamn Erote,” Mark snapped. “Look, he’ll figure out soon enough that whatever you are isn’t monstrous, I’m sure of it. But it’s a good place to start in terms of concealing your identity. Hell, if we play it right, he never even has to know what you look like.”

 

Jenna nodded. “That could actually work out really well,” she agreed. She smirked. “You’d make a pretty good monster husband, too, Josh.”  
  
Josh snorted, but sat down to pay attention to Mark’s idea.

 

* * *

 

The next day, the ceremony took place.

 

Tyler was dressed up in a too-big suit, and his mom tucked a blue pocket square in the blazer pocket, and handed him a coin.  
“Place it under your tongue,” she said. “It’s for the ferryman.”  
She blinked hard, and left the room. Tyler could hear her crying down the hallway.

 

Jay entered the room, and silently motioned for Tyler to follow him. Tyler saw his reddened eyes, and realised that Jay was afraid he’d cry if he spoke.  
  
Tyler followed Jay into the living room, where the ceremony was being held. His parents held thuribles of burning incense, and Tyler wasn’t sure if everyone’s eyes were red from the smoke or from sadness.

 

He barely heard Father Ambrose’s chanting as he gave Tyler the final rites, and tuned out again as he summoned the monster. He braced himself as Father Ambrose finished the summons, but – to everyone’s surprise – nothing happened.

 

Father Ambrose cleared his throat nervously. “Sometimes divine creatures will appear in other forms, or send other creatures to participate on their behalf,” he said. “It could be that.. this monster’s form is invisible?”

 

“Look!” Maddy cried, pointing at the window. The family turned, to see a swirling, undulating murmuration of tiny, bright red swallow-like birds.

 

“Open the door,” Father Ambrose advised. Zack stood to pull the door open, and the flock poured in.  
The birds settled in every corner of the room; perched on the couch, on photo frames, shelves, nesting in shoes. One settled on Ambrose’s shoulder, and he shivered uncomfortably.

 

“Alright,” Father Ambrose said. “I guess we can take these birds as the monster’s representatives. Now for the marriage ceremony.”

 

Once again, Tyler tuned out the marriage rites, not paying attention until he realised – wasn’t there supposed to be an exchange of rings? How was he supposed to put a ring on his monster’s finger when, well, the only sign of the monster was the flock of birds? Birds didn’t possess fingers.

Ambrose motioned for Tyler to take a ring. Tyler shakily recited Ambrose’s marriage vows as he held the ring up, not sure how to proceed.

The bird on Ambrose’s shoulder fluttered across to Tyler, grasping the ring in its tiny clawed feet, and hovered beside Tyler.

Another bird took the second ring from Ambrose’s hand, and dropped it in Tyler’s hand. Tyler hesitantly slid the ring on his finger, swallowing hard.

 

“And now I pronounce you,” Ambrose said, “Husband, and.. spouse...?”

 

He shrugged nervously. “I’d say you can kiss, but I’m not sure how that would work.”

 

The birds worked it out. Three of them, including the one holding the ring and the one who’d given Tyler his ring, flew up to Tyler’s face and fluttered their wings against his cheeks. Butterfly kisses, almost. It would do.

 

“Oh, Tyler,” Tyler’s mom whimpered. Tyler steeled himself.

 

“Congratulations, Tyler,” Ambrose said hollowly. “All my blessings for your marriage.”

 

Maddy burst into tears, and the birds returned to the air, spiralling in a fluttering mass around Tyler.

 

A moment later, and both the birds and Tyler had disappeared.

 

-

 

Tyler wasn’t exactly sure what happened, or how it happened. But the birds seemed to have carried high up into the air, higher and higher until the clouds obscured the city below.

And then something strange happened. The clouds gave way to a great floating island, covered in forested greenery. Streams poured straight from the edge of the island, dropping dizzyingly below into the clouds.

The birds carried him over the island, and lowered him into a clearing in the forest. They left him sitting in a patch of unnaturally soft grass, and took off, careening through the trees until they disappeared.

 

Tyler gulped. Would he die now?

 

He glanced around him through the trees, but saw nothing. Dark figures caught his eyes, but they turned out to be shadows cast by the trees, or odd-shaped saplings.

For a split moment, he thought he detected movement in the corner of his eye, but then his eyelids grew strangely heavy. He couldn’t stop himself falling back into the grass, and the world fell dark.

 

 


	3. I can feel your breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler meets the household, and later.. dun dun duuuuun.  
> Pun very definitely intended.

The world re-emerged as a vague understanding of the fact that whatever Tyler was lying in, it was very soft, and very warm.  
He blearily creaked open his eyes, squinting in the dim light.

He was in a bed, he realised. A big one. He seemed to be enveloped in piles of soft, heavy blankets, and there were two too-fluffy pillows under his head.  
He discarded one, throwing it across the bed. Much better.

He glanced around the room, blinking.

 

It looked like he was in a very nice bedroom.

 

Soft, beige-coloured carpet covered the floor, and the walls were a neutral off-white, with a strip of floral-patterned wallpaper running along the top of each wall under the cornices.

Light filtered in through maroon damask curtains covering what must have been a huge window, and the furniture was all heavy, dark, carved wood.

The room was large, but the warm colours and heavy textures made it feel cosy. It _nearly_ quelled the uneasiness crawling in Tyler’s throat.

 

He reached across the bedside drawers and found the lamp’s light switch, flicking it on and filling the room with warm light.

Blinking, he disentangled himself from the heavy blankets, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

 

He hadn’t been undressed, he realised. Someone had taken off his jacket and shoes, untucked his shirt and loosened his belt, and unbuttoned his cuffs and collar, but his clothes hadn’t been removed. That made him feel a bit better, that nobody had tried to interfere with him. The idea of someone undressing him while he was unconscious made his skin crawl.

But he didn’t really want to remain in his funeral clothes. Remembering that this was essentially his casket outfit made him wrestle the shirt and slacks off.

 

There was something hard and metallic-tasting in his mouth. The coin. Tyler spat it out into his hand and placed on the dresser, wondering how he hadn’t swallowed it or choked on it when he’d fallen unconscious.

 

Were there clothes in here? Tyler couldn’t stay in his funeral suit, but he couldn’t wander around in his boxers either. He looked through the wardrobe and found a collection of pants and t-shirts. Were they for him, or did they belong to someone else?

They didn’t look like clothes he’d wear, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to borrow them. He grabbed a black shirt with a band logo he didn’t recognise, and a pair of too-big ripped skinnies that looked more like straight-leg jeans on his thin legs.

 

There was a mirror screwed into the inside of one of the wardrobe doors, catching Tyler’s eye as he dressed.  
He looked a bit ridiculous in someone else’s clothes, but not stupid. His face was oddly scarecrow-ish, but considering what he’d been through recently, he wasn’t surprised. A flash of light caught his eye, and he glanced down at the ring still on his hand.

 

That’s right. He was married. And he still hadn’t met his monster spouse.  
He shuddered.

The ordeal wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot. Nice bedrooms with fluffy blankets couldn’t change that fact.

 

He pushed the door of the room open, heart thudding.

 

He found himself in a hallway. He took a left, hoping it wouldn’t lead him straight into the monster. He could at least get to explore this place a bit before he died, couldn’t he?

 

The hallway led him past several doors, which were locked when he tried them. It opened out into what looked like an open-plan living area with a kitchen in one corner, a dining table in another, and a huge L-shaped couch in front of a cinematic t.v taking up the vast majority of the space.

 

Sitting on the couch was a person. Tyler froze.

 

The person turned around; a woman with straight, blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She smiled at him, and for a second Tyler was caught off guard by how stunning she was.

 

“Hello,” she said pleasantly, in a sweet voice. “Are you Tyler?”  
  
Was this his monster? Tyler gulped.

 

She stood up, dropping a book on the coffee table and crossing the room to him. Tyler took a step back.

 

She laughed. “Hey, it’s alright!” she said. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you, Tyler.”

 

“Are you my, uh, wife?” Tyler demanded.

 

She laughed again. “No, sorry,” she said. She held up her hand, which was bare. No ring.

 

Tyler relaxed a little. “Who are you?” he asked.

 

“I’m Jenna,” the woman said. “I’m, uh, one of the staff, I guess.”  
  
“Staff?” Tyler glanced around.

 

Jenna smiled. “There’s a few of us, we stay here and keep everything in order, y’know?” she explained. “I mean, there’s a lot more to our jobs than just housekeeping, but you don’t need to know all of that. All you need to know is that we’re here to help you, settle you in and stuff.”

 

She turned, making her way into the kitchen. “You hungry?” she asked. “We’ve got plenty of food, so if you want anything, just ask. Feel free to explore and mess around as you like, by the way. This is your place now, too. Just remember to clean up after yourself!”  
  


Tyler blinked. “Um, I’m okay for now,” he said. “Do you, uh, know where my spouse is? Are they around?”

 

“Oh, your husband?” Jenna said. “He won’t be back til tonight, I’m afraid. You’ll meet him then.”  
  
“H-husband?” Tyler asked.

 

“Yes,” Jenna said. She glanced at him. “Is that an issue?”  
  
“Uh, not really,” Tyler said. “Just.. good to know, I guess. Not that it’ll matter, if he’s gonna kill me.” Tyler massaged his fists into his eyes. “Shit. So I’ve got one more day, huh?”  
  
Jenna gave him a funny look, shaking her head. “Kill you? He’s not gonna kill you,” she said incredulously. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you here, Tyler.”

 

“But – the prophecy,” Tyler stammered. “Father Ambrose...”  
  
“If there’s a monster who’s gonna kill you, it’s not your husband,” Jenna snorted. “I don’t know where Ambrose got that part. But you’re safe here, Tyler.”  
  
Tyler couldn’t fully believe her – she worked for this guy, didn’t she? It was in her interests to make him feel safe and keep him docile. The lamb ready for slaughter. He shuddered.

But, he had one more day. He wasn’t going to bump into the monster any time soon, and that made him relax a little.

 

“You wanna have a look around?” Jenna asked. “You can always grab something later if you’re not hungry.”

 

“Um, sure,” Tyler said. Maybe he could figure out an escape or something. To do that, of course, he’d need to know the house’s layout, and Jenna giving him a tour would show him that.

 

“Awesome!” Jenna beamed. “We might meet some of the others, too. I think you’ll like the other guys.”

 

As they left the kitchen, Jenna relaxed a little. So far, everything seemed to be going well.  
Tyler hadn’t panicked, or become violent – he was clearly fearful, and she didn’t think he trusted her, but he wasn’t being difficult or uncooperative. He was playing along, and that was all Jenna needed. In time, he’d realise he wasn’t in danger, and wouldn’t need to be on guard.

 

But for now, they were playing safe. Jenna, like the other Erotes, had kept a glamour up to hide her wings and unnaturally blue eyes. A precaution, in case Tyler was well-read on the stories and realised what they were – which would cause him to realise what Josh was. And if Tyler knew his husband was an Erote, then the whole gig was over.

 

Jenna led him past the locked doors to an unlocked room. She pushed the door open. “You’re a musician, aren’t you?” she asked. “I think you’ll like this.”  
  
Tyler ducked his head inside, and his eyes widened.

 

The whole room was set up for music, like a self-contained recording studio. Recording equipment sat on one side of the room, and the rest of the room was filled with instruments – drums, guitars, an upright piano, even a little ukulele next to the guitars. A computer and electronic equipment – synthesisers, samplers, electric keyboards and more – sat on a long desk in the corner.

 

There was everything Tyler could want to create music, and more. He eyed one of the bass guitars. He’d never had the chance to learn one of those, but he’d always been curious to try it out.

 

“Look good?” Jenna asked.

 

“Um, yeah,” Tyler said, eyes wide. “Do you guys play?”  
  
“Not me so much,” Jenna said. “But a couple of the other guys are into music. Your husband is kickass on drums.”  
  
“You’re kidding.”  
  
“Not even! He’s not half bad at trumpet either.”  
  
Tyler snorted. Wow.

 

Jenna smirked. “Come on,” she said, and they moved on.

 

“I don’t know if you’re the kind of guy to work out, but we’ve got this as well,” Jenna said, leading Tyler down a set of stairs. She led him into another room – a wide, open room with big windows, full of gym equipment. And on the other side of a glass wall, a multisport pitch floor with basketball hoops at either end. Tyler’s jaw dropped.

 

“Not to toot my own horn or anything,” Tyler said, “But, uh, I did use to be a star basketballer. I had scholarships and everything.”  
  
“Really? Nice!” Jenna said. “Well, you can keep your game up as much as you like here. All of us are into b-ball. We could have a half-court game sometime.”  
  
“Yeah,” Tyler said.  
Jenna was speaking as though he was going to be around long enough to play basketball with her in future. He wondered if she really believed that, or was saying it to make him feel better.

 

The door opened, and a huge, muscular man with short dark hair walked in. Tyler jumped.

 

“Oh, Michael!” Jenna said delightedly. “Come say hi to Tyler!”  
  
The man looked up, and smiled a sweet smile that made his eyes crinkle up. “You’re Tyler, huh?” he asked. “Jenna showing you around?”  
  
“Yep,” Tyler said. “You’re Michael?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m another one of the locals,” he said. “You work out?”  
  
“A little,” Tyler said.

 

“Cool,” said Michael, who obviously worked out more than a little. “If you ever want a gym buddy, give me a yell, alright?”  
  
“Sure,” Tyler said, and Jenna pulled him out of the gym to show him more of the house.

 

Well, that’s what Tyler was guessing it was. If it was a house, it was _huge_. More like a mansion, maybe. And he hadn’t even seen what it was like outside, although judging by the view from the gym’s windows, the outside was spectacular – great forests and valleys were visible.  
If somehow he was going to live beyond tonight, he hoped he’d get to go hiking.

 

Jenna showed him the bathrooms (all huge, with baths AND showers, and the biggest bathroom even had a spa), the laundry (where he met Jesse, a beaming laid-back man with flowing brown hair and a neat short beard), and the study (which was occupied by Mark, a quiet, thoughtful-looking dark-haired man who didn’t move from his laptop).

 

At the end of the tour, Tyler sheepishly asked if they could go back to the kitchen.  
“Where’s the cereal?” he asked.

“Oh, that’ll be in the pantry, the cereal’s all on the third shelf,” Jenna explained, gesturing at the cupboards and doors in the kitchen. “Bowls are in this cupboard, and spoons in this drawer. Milk’s in the fridge, of course.”  
  
“You sure you don’t want a smoothie?” a voice called. Tyler turned to see Jesse poking his head around the hallway. “I make a mean smoothie, and it’ll be way healthier for you than all that empty sugar,” he said, beaming.

 

“Um, thanks,” Tyler said. “I think I’m good, though.” He shook a box of cinnamon toast crunch, and Jesse sighed.

 

“Oh well, your loss,” he said, emerging from the hallway to sit on a bar stool next to the counter.

 

“I’ll have a bowl of that, too,” another voice piped up, and Michael emerged from the hallway as well, hair damp and a towel draped over his shoulders. Jenna pulled out another bowl and spoon.

 

“You shouldn’t be eating junk after a workout,” Jesse scolded.

Michael shrugged. “I’m bulking,” he said.  
“I could do you a protein smoothie that won’t have all the sugar and carbs,” Jesse wheedled. Michael just laughed and shook his head.

 

Tyler found himself spending the rest of the day getting to know the other residents of the house. They were all unique, in their own ways, and all of them were kind to him – even Mark, who emerged after a while to join the cereal party, and turned out to have a killer sense of humour.

 

But the changing sun and growing shadows became ever more distracting, dread growing in the pit of Tyler’s stomach as the day wore on.  
It would be dark soon.

 

The other residents obviously took notice of Tyler’s growing anxiety. They tried to distract him with video games on the big tv, or food.

But Tyler wasn’t hungry, and he couldn’t focus on the games.

 

They tried to reassure him. “Nobody here is gonna hurt you,” Jenna told him over and over.

“Why would we bring you here just to let you die?” Mark insisted. “Your husband isn’t a monster. You’ll be safe.”

 

Tyler asked, if his husband wasn’t a monster, why couldn’t he see him? Why wouldn’t the others tell him what his husband was, even? His name? His nature?  
  


Mark chewed his lip, and Jenna looked nervous. “We can’t tell you,” they said. “You just have to trust us.”

 

But, as nice as they were, Tyler had only met them that day. How could he trust them?

 

Eventually, Jenna took him back to his room. “It’ll be okay,” she said for the hundredth time. Tyler glared at her. She sighed. “Go have a shower or something, alright?” she said. “Clear your head, calm yourself down. Go to bed.”  
  
“And do what? Wait for him to come and kill me?” Tyler demanded.  
  
Jenna rubbed her eyes. “Please, Tyler, nobody is going to hurt you,” she said. “Least of all your husband. Please just trust us, alright?”  
  
Tyler sighed in defeat. “Alright,” he said. “Fine. I’ll go shower, go to bed. Await my fate, or whatever.”  
  
Jenna half-smiled at him. “Thank you,” she said. “Relax, alright? It’s all gonna be okay.”  
  


She left, and the door closed. Tyler sat on the bed and groaned.

 

He wanted so badly to believe they were telling him the truth, that he could trust them. Maybe Ambrose had messed up. Maybe everything would be fine.

 

But he couldn’t let go of the fear in his chest, not after a long shower that ran until the water was cold, not when he pulled on a clean t-shirt over his boxers and resigned himself to bed.

 

It didn’t help that, at seven in the evening, all the lights in the room shut off.

 

He flicked the lamp switch uselessly, before curling up on the bed. It was completely dark. Not even a peep of light under the door. Somehow, the room was totally, endlessly dark, and he couldn’t even see his hand in front of him.

 

He waited.

 

His eyes didn’t accustom to the darkness with time; it was just too dark. He picked at his nails anxiously.

 

He couldn’t even check the time. Even his phone was mysteriously dead.

He wished he at least had a clock radio or something, something that could show how much time had passed while he waited – it felt like hours to him, but for all he knew it could have been only a few minutes.

 

He couldn’t even doze while he waited. He was too wound up, full of panic. Images kept flashing in his head of all the ways this could happen – would the monster crash in, or sneak in quietly and creep up on him?  
Would he be killed quickly, or would it be drawn out? Would he suffer?  
  
He wished he’d said goodbye properly. His family’s faces floated in his mind. He’d been so looking forward to Maddy or Zack having kids, being an uncle. He’d miss out on all that, now.

 

The door creaked, and Tyler shot up, sitting bolt up right.

 

The door opened, but the hallway was equally dark. Tyler’s eyes strained, but he could see nothing.

 

But he could hear.

He heard a soft cough, slow breathing. It sounded distinctly human-like.

 

There were footsteps – two feet! – and a fluttering sound, like birds’ wings. Wings? Was his monster human-like, or bird-like?

 

The bed shifted and gave way as a weight sank into it, and Tyler jumped. He registered that he was shaking.

 

Something touched his arm, and he flinched. The something tried again, and Tyler registered what felt like human fingers – a warm hand pressing along his arm.

 

The monster sighed, and the bed shifted again as he lay down. The blankets were shifted and moved, and Tyler registered a blanket being draped across his lap.

 

The monster shifted a bit, fabric rustling and the bed creaking while he presumably settled into the bed. Then he fell silent.

 

Tyler waited.

 

There was another sigh, and a hand pressed against his chest, pushing him down against the bed. He fought the panic rising in his throat, but it got very difficult when a very human-like arm pulled him against a very warm, human-like chest.

He was relieved to find his monster was not as monstrous as he expected, but that didn’t help alleviate the caged feeling he had now that he was trapped against the monster’s body.

 

Soft breath tickled Tyler’s hair, and the monster shifted and sighed, humming softly.

 

Tyler lay there and waited.

 

He hadn’t expected this. He’d expected death, not cuddles. Did the monster want to cuddle before he killed him? Tyler’s mind reeled.

Time passed, and Tyler listened to the monster’s breathing drift into soft snoring. He was asleep. Tyler couldn’t escape, though, not with the monster holding him tight.

 

Tyler slowly relaxed his stiff posture. Maybe he wasn’t going to die tonight. His eyes drooped, and his mind began to uneasily drift.

 

His eyes fell shut.

 

His dreams were filled with screeching harpies, feathers and soft hands.

 


	4. I want to know you, I want to see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark explains a couple of things, and Tyler tries talking to his monster.

The next morning, Tyler woke up alone.

 

He didn’t realise it at first. He lay perfectly still, straining to hear the monster’s breathing, but heard nothing. He couldn’t feel the monster near him anymore – the arm and chest was gone.

 

He cracked his eyes open, looking around.

 

He cautiously sat up, looking down at the bed, and that was when he realised the monster had left.

 

Tyler jumped out of bed and wrestled some clothes on. He left the room to find Mark in the kitchen.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me he isn’t actually a monster?” Tyler demanded.

 

Mark blinked at him. “Uh, good morning to you too,” he said. “And, look, we never told you he _was_ a monster. You said that.”  
  
“You let me believe it.”

 

Mark sighed. “Listen,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff we just can’t tell you, okay? Either you have to figure it out on your own, or you’re better off not knowing for your own good. Do you understand that?”  
  
“I was terrified!” Tyler yelled. “I thought I was going to die!”  
  
“And what did we tell you all day yesterday?” Mark snapped. “The literal one thing we _could_ tell you was that you’re safe here. If you refused to believe us, that’s not our fault.”

 

“Fine,” Tyler muttered. “So, you won’t tell me what’s going on. What _can_ you tell me?”

 

Mark sighed, massaging his temples. “I can reiterate that you’re safe,” he said. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you, certainly not your husband. I can tell you you’ve got to be confined here for the time being, but we don’t really know how long for, and we’re hopeful that things can work out so you can have more freedom. To, I don’t know, move around and stuff. Go hiking. Visit the mortal world, even, if you want.”

 

“That’s another thing,” Tyler said. “Where am I? Are you guys, like, deities or something? Is this Olympus?”

 

Mark snorted. “Well, this definitely isn’t Olympus,” he said. “I can’t tell you exactly where we are, but you’re not wrong about us being divine. Again, though, I can’t tell you who we are or what god we serve.”  
  
Tyler huffed. “So, what, this is some floating divine overworld?” he asked. “And you guys are, I don’t know, related to gods? Servants of gods?”  
He blinked. “Is my husband a god?”  
  
Mark smirked. “Not quite,” he said. “I mean, I guess, _technically_ , yeah, but not upper-tier, you know? Not like Zeus or Hera or Athena or anything. Neither are any of the other residents in this place. But he’s divine, for sure. Same sort of level as us. And I guess you could call us servants.”

 

“But I’m mortal,” Tyler said. “How can I even _exist_ here? I shouldn’t be able to be up here.”

 

“You’re here by our permission, and that’s all you need,” Mark explained. “Mortals can live up here, but you’re restricted to the same rules as mortals down below. You’ll age and die, be vulnerable to death and disease. And when you die, your soul will head down to the Underworld, same as any mortal.”

 

“But my husband is immortal,” Tyler said, frowning. “Why marry a mortal if you’re all just gonna watch me age and die?”  
  
Mark sighed, and shrugged. He walked around the kitchen, collecting a bowl, spoon, milk, and a box of cereal before speaking again. “To be honest, this whole plan was very... cobbled together,” he said. “Our main goal was to get you out of danger and get you settled here. We didn’t have a lot of time to figure out longer-term stuff. I mean, we still have to get you your own clothes and stuff, you can’t be wearing your husband’s clothes the whole time.”  
  
Tyler blinked. “Okay, first of all, what danger are you talking about?” he asked. “And second...” He glanced down at today’s band shirt. “My husband likes Blink-182?”

 

Mark chewed his lip. “I can’t tell you the details,” he said carefully. “But, yeah. Things were about to go spectacularly badly for you. And on top of that, we weren’t sure what your Ambrose dude was going to do to you. I know some monster-sacrifice ceremonies have involved literally killing the victim, so we really didn’t want to risk Ambrose getting it into his head that, to actually give you to the ‘monster spouse’, he had to kill you. If the wedding thing didn’t work, he might have tried that. So we decided to make the wedding thing work.”  
  
Tyler blinked. “Wait,” he said. “So you don’t have anything to do with the monster Ambrose envisioned?”  
  
“Of course not,” Mark snorted, pouring the cereal into the bowl. “Essentially, we heard Ambrose had cooked up some monster spouse story to your family, and was going to try to sacrifice you to it. And we didn’t want you getting hurt, so we stepped in. Got a bit creative so Ambrose wouldn’t realise we weren’t the real monster, and got you out of danger.”  
  
“So the birds,” Tyler realised. “They were all you guys.”  
  
“One of our cooler skills,” Mark said with a grin, following the cereal with milk. “We make a pretty impressive flock when our whole group does it.”

 

“So,” Tyler said with a sly smirk. “You’re servants of Apollo, then? Or maybe Hera? What other bird-related deities are there?”  
  
Mark groaned, rolling his eyes. “Neither, actually,” he said. “And don’t try to guess, yikes. I promise you, the less you know, the better off you’ll be. Don’t go getting curious, alright?”

 

Tyler sighed, walking into the kitchen and mirroring Mark’s earlier movements to make up his own bowl of cereal, setting it on the counter across from Mark. “Alright,” he said. “So.. what now? I just stay stuck here the whole time?”  
  
“Until we can figure out phase two, yeah, I’m afraid,” Mark said, pushing his spoon through the cereal. “And hey, you don’t have to be bored. You’re a songwriter, right? We have a studio, right?”

 

Tyler smirked, eating a mouthful. “I see your game plan,” he joked. “Lock me here and force another album out of me. You sound like my record label.”

 

Mark snorted. “Well, aren’t musicians all about creative retreats, self-imposed isolation to rev up inspiration, all that stuff?” he asked. “Maybe think of this like that.”  
  
“Except, you know, I don’t ever return to civilisation to show off the fruits of my labour.”

 

“True.”

 

The pair ate quietly for a bit, before Mark spoke again.

 

“Hey, Tyler,” he said. “Lemme give you some advice.”  
  
Tyler looked up at Mark.

 

Mark smirked. “Pour the cereal _before_ the milk, dude. Don’t be weird.”

 

Tyler groaned, and whacked his spoon against Mark’s shoulder while Mark snickered at him.

He wasn’t sure yet, but he was pretty sure he and Mark were going to get along just fine.

 

-

 

Later that night, Tyler found himself waiting in bed in a pitch-black bedroom again.

 

He was less scared than he’d been the night before – so far, it seemed his monster had no intention of hurting him.

He wasn’t even sure why he still kept thinking of his husband as “the monster” - he supposed the association had been around long enough that it had just stuck, and would probably continue to stick regardless of what he turned out to be.  
But he still didn’t know anything about his husband, even his name, and that lack of knowing made him feel uneasy still.

 

How could this happen? How could he literally be married to someone he didn’t even know? He didn’t think stuff like this still happened, and yet, here he was, anxiously awaiting a husband whose name he didn’t even know.

 

Literally all he knew about him was that the dude liked Blink-182. Tyler groaned.

 

The door cracked open, and Tyler looked up. Futilely, he remembered, since he couldn’t see anyway, but he listened for the footsteps again, the breathing.

He wondered if his husband could see in the dark, could see him sitting up in bed with his arms around his knees, where all Tyler had was nebulous black. His skin crawled.

The bed creaked and shifted under the monster’s weight again, and Tyler could feel his body heat radiating through the thin space between them.

 

A few moments passed, and then Tyler swallowed and cleared his throat.  
“Um,” he mumbled. “Hi.”

 

The breathing stopped for a second, as if in surprise. And then the monster spoke.

 

“Uh, hey,” a low, soft voice said.

 

“W-what’s your, um...” Tyler cleared his throat, tried again. “What’s your name?”  
  
The monster paused. “Um,” he said. “It’s Josh.”

 

Tyler blinked. Considering how the others had so adamantly refused to even hint at Josh’s name, it surprised Tyler that asking for it ended up being so _easy_. He’d expected to argue with the monster, or end up playing twenty questions, or something.

 

“So you’re, uh, you’re my husband?” Tyler asked.

 

Josh chuckled slightly. “Well, I mean, I hope so, considering we’re sharing a bed,” he said, and Tyler found himself snickering as well.

 

“You’re not.. actually a monster, are you?” Tyler asked. Might as well cut to the chase.

 

Josh paused. “Well, I guess that depends on how you define a monster,” he said softly.

 

“Okay, fair,” Tyler said, “but before we get all deep and introspective, you don’t have ten heads and scales, or pincers or something, do you?”

 

Josh laughed. “No, I’ve got the usual number of heads. No scales. No pincers.”

 

“No, like, weird appendages?”

  
“No, no tentacles.”

 

“Bummer. I was always kinda into hentai.”  
  
Josh laughed, a full-bellied one that shook the bed. “Seriously?”  
  


Tyler snorted. “No, of course not. Consider me thoroughly relieved.”

 

They fell quiet again, and then Josh spoke.

“How, uh, how have you been finding the place?”  
  
Tyler blinked. “Um, it’s nice,” he said. “The others, they’ve been really nice to me.”  
  
“Mark not bullying you?”  
  
Tyler laughed. “Not too much,” he said. “No, they’re all really nice.”

 

“Good. I’m glad. I’m.. I’m sorry I haven’t been around to, you know, settle you in myself.”

 

Tyler shifted. “That’s okay. The others explained things, kind of. That I can’t know too much about you?”

  
  
“Yeah. And I’m sorry about that, I really am.”

Josh rested a warm hand on Tyler’s arm. “It’s.. it’s all kind of messed up, I know,” he said. “I’m not being all mysterious and secretive because I want to, believe me. Otherwise I would have done the normal thing and taken you on a date first.”

 

Tyler snorted. “It’s just stupid,” he said. “I don’t even know you. They seem to want me to, I don’t know, have a relationship with you. But how can I do that when I’ve only met you twice, and this is the first time I’ve talked to you? I’ve been here two days. I know _Mark_ better than I know you.”

 

Josh sighed, pulling his hand away. “I know. I’m sorry.”  
  
“Sorry doesn’t do a lot when I’m stuck in a bed with someone I don’t even know. I don’t know what you _look_ like.”

 

Josh was quiet for a moment, then he spoke again. “If you want, maybe I can try to show you?” he asked.

 

Tyler blinked. “How?”  
  
“Gimme your hand.”  
  
Tyler held his hand out, and Josh gently took hold of his wrist, guiding his hand across until Tyler’s fingers came into contact with something.

 

He twisted his fingers through soft curls. “That’s your hair?”  
  
“Yeah.”

 

He guided Tyler’s hand down, across his face – sharp cheekbones, aquiline nose, strong jawline, scratchy stubble, soft lips.

 

Tyler felt his fingers brush down a long neck, over a wide shoulder and a muscular arm. Josh brought Tyler’s hand down to meet his other hand, prominent knuckles and raised veins bumping under Tyler’s fingers.

 

Josh traced Tyler’s hand back up to slide across his chest and torso, dragging across defined muscles and smooth skin.

 

Tyler blinked. “Who works out more, you or Michael?”  
  
Josh laughed. “Well, we’re gym buddies, so I guess we compete sometimes. He’s got way bigger muscles than me, though.”

 

Josh paused, leaving Tyler’s hand to rest on his (oddly small, curved) waist. “Is this okay?” he asked. “We can stop if you want, if it’s weird.”

 

Tyler swallowed. “Nah, I gotta make sure you don’t have a fish tail or something,” he said. “Just don’t make me touch your junk or whatever.”  
  
Josh laughed, and Tyler felt him sit up. “You sure? You don’t want to check I don’t have something weird down there? No tentacles?”  
  
“I think I’ll take my chances. I’m not super bothered about what you might have down there, unless it really is tentacles.”  
  
Josh chuckled, then took Tyler’s hand again. “Fair enough.”  
  


Tyler’s hand traced past Josh’s hip and down his thigh, skimming over what felt like boxer shorts in the process. Soft hair on his upper leg gave way to coarser, thicker hair on his knobbled knee and muscular lower leg, before dispersing out at his ankle and foot, soft yet hard with prominent tendons and bones.

His other leg was the same story. Tyler was beginning to build a picture in his head, of a muscular man with a broad chest and shoulders and strong arms. Probably not taller than him, judging by the length of his legs, maybe even shorter. But of course Tyler couldn’t be sure with them both sitting in the dark.

But what of the rustling feathers?

  
“Show me your back,” Tyler said. He heard Josh swallow.

 

“Might be hard,” he said carefully. “It’s.. a bit awkward. Also, please don’t freak out.”

 

“I’ll try not to,” Tyler said, heart thudding in his chest as he heard Josh shifting so that his back faced Tyler. He jumped when he felt feathers – actual feathers! - brush across his crossed legs.

 

“I can’t really guide you, so you’ll have to, uh, reach out,” Josh said. “Just please do it slowly, don’t punch me in the back or something.”  
  
Tyler reached his hands out cautiously, breath dying in his throat when his fingers skimmed across more feathers.

 

He felt upwards, confused. His fingers traced over a hard curve, dipping in until defined feathers gave way to soft down, and down gave way to skin.

He smoothed his hands back up over the curves, suddenly realising that he was running his hands down feathered wings.

He reached the primary feathers, stroking their length thoughtfully. Josh squirmed.  
“Please don’t pull on those,” he said in a nervous voice.

 

Tyler reached up again, moving his hands to trace around the downy base of the wings where they met Josh’s shoulderblades. He ran his hands over the defined muscles in his backs, the knobs of his spine.

 

“You have _wings_ , dude,” Tyler said in a hushed voice.

 

Josh shifted. “You’re not, uh, freaking out?” he asked.

 

Tyler blinked. “Well, I mean, I am, kinda,” he said in a shaky voice. “I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet. What kind of monsters look like humans with bird’s wings, exactly?”

 

“Monsters like me, I guess,” Josh said softly.

 

“So, you’re really not, like, human.”  
  
Josh snorted. “Not exactly, no.”

 

“But no weird stuff, like fangs or poison or whatever?”  
  
“Nothing like that,” Josh said, turning around to sit facing Tyler again, startling him slightly when he took his hands in his own. “The wings are the only things.”  
  
“You promise? Nothing else? What about, like, glowing eyes or something?” Tyler asked.

 

Josh chuckled. “No, sorry,” he said. “Just wings.”

 

“You’re sure you’re not a harpy?”  
  
“Well, harpies have wings, don’t they? I don’t have claws, though. I’m not gonna carry you away and kill you.”  
  
“Technically, you already have carried me away.”  
  
Josh laughed. “Well, you haven’t killed any family members of yours recently, have you? Nothing to justify divine punishment? You’ll be safe.”

 

Tyler shifted uncomfortably. “Wow. Well, I didn’t really expect wings.”  
  
“I don’t blame you.”

 

He felt Josh lie down next to him, stretching out along the bed. “You satisfied that I’m not some eldritch tentacled shadow monster that’s gonna devour you, now?”  
  
Tyler shrugged, lying down next to him. “I guess. I have one more question, though.”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“Okay, so. How does a harpy become a fan of Blink-182?”  
  
Josh laughed. “Oh, man. That’s a story. Want me to tell you?”  
  
Tyler rolled over so he was facing Josh. He couldn’t see him, but light puffs of breath passing over his cheeks told him that Josh was facing him too, lying close. “Sure,” he said.

 

Josh took a breath. “Okay, so,” he began. “I had a mission in the summer of ‘97, okay, and for whatever reason my victims happened to be rock fans, so I ended up at Warped Tour in Orlando stuck in the pit for Limp Bizkit...”

 

It was nice, listening to Josh – he had a soothing, low voice, and he told stories easily and casually, dropping little jokes that forced him to pause for Tyler’s laughing.

After hearing Josh’s history of following favourite bands around the world, Tyler shared his own stories of musical loves.

 

To his surprise, Josh had heard of him, too. “You’re a Death Cab fan? I totally didn’t pick that from your music,” he said.

 

“You’ve heard my music?” Tyler asked incredulously.  
  
“Are you kidding? I own your album!” Josh exclaimed. “You’re _incredible_.”  
  


Tyler blinked, feeling his cheeks flush a little. “Wow, I.. thanks.”

 

Josh shifted. “So, I guess I kinda figured your songs aren’t love songs.”  
  
Tyler laughed softly. “You’d be one of the few. I tried to tell the label not to market me as another Ed Sheeran, but they figured it’d bring in the big bucks, so.”

 

“If it’s alright for me to ask,” Josh asked, “What got you into music? I might have googled you, and like... you were gonna be a basketball star. What made you change your mind?”

 

Tyler chewed his lip. “It’s... kind of complicated.”  
  
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Josh said softly. “It’s alright.”

 

“No, I wanna tell you,” Tyler said. “It’s just a long story, I guess. I was always into music, I was writing songs even in high school, but I guess things really changed in college...”

 

Tyler settled into the story as Josh settled into attentive silence. And when he finished, and Josh began to speak, he was astonished to find that Josh _understood_.

 

Something unfamiliar stirred into the pit of Tyler’s stomach. Not fear, not nerves. Something different entirely.

 

They continued talking late into the night, and while Tyler had joked earlier about getting deep and introspective, the conversation definitely steered into that territory.

 

Tyler noticed how Josh very carefully omitted certain details from his life – how long he’d been alive, what gods he was involved with, what he actually did while in the mortal world. But in other ways, he bared his soul. Fears, insecurities, doubts. Deeply personal things that Tyler found himself resonating, empathising with.

And, to his own surprise, Tyler found himself baring his soul as well. Dreams, hopes, what he had wanted to achieve with the newfound attention he’d received. How he hadn’t wanted fame for money or prestige, but to affect change and make a difference, make something in the world better.

And Josh _got it_. Josh admitted how he’d been attracted to all these bands and musicians for exactly the same reason – their ability to change people’s lives and help them become better. And that he had always wished that he himself could be able to change people’s lives in the same way through music; something made impossible by his divinity, but something he longed for anyway.

Tyler didn’t realise how much time had passed while they talked until he heard birdsong, and realised he could detect a faint blue glow between the gap in the curtains.

 

“Did we really talk all night?” he laughed. “I can’t believe that.”  
  
Josh laughed too, but he sounded nervous. “Shoot, Tyler,” he said. “It’s nearly bright enough for you to see me.”

 

“And you can’t let me see you.” Tyler’s heart sank a little. “That’s right.”

 

“I’m sorry, Ty,” Josh said, and a faint shadow leaned over Tyler, fingers grazing across his fluttering eyelids. “I’ll see you again soon.”

Tyler opened his mouth to protest, but instead found his world sinking into the dark again.

 

This time, his dreams were full of feathers, songs and soft voices.

 


	5. I've been thinking too much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SO MUCH TALKING. SO MUCH.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> small tw for rape mention - nothing huge, just a reference to Renaissance painting titles and the whole mortal-gets-swept-up-by-lascivious-gods concept (which is very immediately condemned, bc lets be honest, thats the worst part of Greek legends ever).
> 
> Also lots of sexual discussion? In the context of figuring out sexuality.

Tyler woke up late.

 

It must have been past midday, so he rolled out of bed and got dressed, heading to the kitchen.

 

Jesse was whizzing a blender while Jenna talked animatedly as she sat at the counter, but both fell silent when Tyler walked in.

 

“Hey, you’re up!” Jesse said with a grin. “Bit late for breakfast smoothies, but do you want me to mix something up?”  
  
“Thanks,” Tyler said, pulling out another bar stool and sitting next to Jenna.

 

“Late night, huh?” Jenna said. “What happened?”  
  
Tyler shrugged. “We just talked,” he said. “We talked really late, I guess. How come you guys wouldn’t tell me his name is Josh?”  
  
Jesse froze, finger stuck on the pulse button.

 

Jenna had an awfully startled look on her face. “He told you his name?” she asked.

 

Tyler glanced between the two of them. “Was... he not supposed to?” he asked.

 

Jenna sighed, and Jesse shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t part of the plan,” he admitted. “But it probably doesn’t make a huge difference. You didn’t see him, though?”  
  
“No, of course not,” Tyler said. “We actually talked all night – it was starting to get light, but he knocked me out before I could see him.”

 

“All night?” Jenna said, eyes wide. “God.” She laughed. “No wonder you’re up late.”

 

“Better late than never,” Jesse said, sliding a smoothie across the counter to Tyler.

 

“Thanks,” Tyler said. He took a sip, and his eyes widened. “Oh,” he said. “ _Wow_. This is really good, Jesse.”  
  
Jesse beamed. “Do I detect a potential new Smoothie Revolution recruit?” he asked slyly.

 

Jenna rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to get caught up in all Jesse’s health food stuff, Tyler,” she said. “But he does make great smoothies, though, so.”  
  
Tyler smirked and sipped his smoothie. “I don’t know,” he said. “I might need another smoothie before I can make a decision on that.”

 

“Another one coming right up!” Jesse said, and Jenna groaned.

 

-

 

Later that night, Tyler sat in bed and waited for the door to creak again.

 

This time, when it cracked open, he heard a soft “hey,” as footsteps padded into the room.

 

“Hi,” Tyler said, shifting and lying down as the bed gave under Josh’s weight. He felt Josh climb under the blankets, and flinched in surprise as cold toes tapped his calves.

 

“Sorry,” Josh said. “It’s weirdly chilly out there tonight.”  
  
“What were you doing?” Tyler asked. That was something that had been on his mind – if the others usually stayed around the house all day, what did Josh do? Did he have a job the others didn’t? Or – and this was a thought that made Tyler oddly uneasy – did he remain in the house, but snuck around, hiding from Tyler?

 

Josh huffed softly. “I guess you could say I was at work?”

 

“Doing what?”  
  
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

 

“Do the others have jobs too?”  
  
Josh laughed. “Yeah, but theirs aren’t as hands-on as mine. They can work from home, or they don’t have as many _office hours,_ so to speak. Usually there’s always one or two people home, but I’m usually out most of the day.”

 

Tyler shifted. “Do you all work together? Do you have a boss?”  
  


Josh sighed. “I can’t tell you, sorry.”  
  
Tyler huffed. He was already growing frustrated with running into brick walls.

 

Josh gently slid his arms around Tyler, pulling him close against his chest. Tyler stiffened at first, not used to the contact, but didn’t panic. He slowly loosened his muscles.

He didn’t think he’d enjoy closeness like this – he’d always figured it’d be too hot and stuffy, too awkward, uncomfortable. That he’d be too worried about moving and disturbing the other person.

But this was oddly nice, not uncomfortable. Something about Josh felt nice.

Tyler relaxed into it.

 

“I still kind of feel bad I’ve never even taken you on a date,” Josh confessed. “This is all the wrong way around.”  
  
Tyler laughed. “You a traditional guy, huh?”  
  
“I guess so. This is, I don’t know, way too liberal for me.”  
  
“Hey, at least we know each other’s names, now.”

 

Josh chuckled, then fell silent. For a while, all Tyler could hear was Josh’s breathing. He became aware of a solid heartbeat permeating everywhere Josh was touching him, echoing his own.

 

“Okay, so,” Josh said. “I need to tell you, I really, really like you. I think you’re really cute, I love your music, and talking to you last night really kind of drove home my feelings for you. But I don’t want to do anything if you don’t feel the same way. Hell, I’m not sure if you even like cuddling. Which, by the way, feel free to shove me off if you’re not comfortable with it.”

 

Tyler laughed. His cheeks felt slightly hot. His heartbeat had sped up a bit.

 

“Well, I’m not shoving you off,” he said. “I like cuddling too. And.. I think I like you too? Maybe?”  
  
“Maybe?”  
  
Tyler shifted. “I don’t know,” he said cautiously. “I don’t know how to explain it. I mean, you’re not just another friend, I guess. Everything about you feels nice, and I guess I feel really close to you after last night. But..”

He chewed his lip. Would Josh get it?  
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think I’ve felt more feelings about you than I’ve felt about anyone, feelings I don’t really understand. But then I think about _marriage_ stuff.”  
  
Josh snorted. “Domesticity? Cleaning and making me packed lunches for work?”  
  
“No,” Tyler said, gently swatting Josh’s arm and eliciting a giggle from the other man. “Stop, I’m trying to be serious.”  
  
“Sorry,” Josh breathed softly, and dammit, there was that sensation again. A weird, butterflies-in-stomach feeling that was more intense than any butterflies Tyler had ever had, and he could feel it high up in his chest. And on top of that, a weird rush of fondness that felt different to the way he’d been fond of his siblings, or friends.

 

“I mean like,” Tyler continued, “Sex. That stuff. I don’t know. I feel a little bit scared about that.”  
  
Josh was quiet for a moment. “Like, apprehensive about sex? Because you haven’t done it? Or super uncomfortable with the whole idea of it?”  
  
“I’m not sure,” Tyler said. “For a long time, I thought I was just nervous, because it’s something new, something I haven’t done. But after a while, I started wondering if it’s more than that. Maybe I just don’t _want_ sex. And I don’t know if that’s because I’m asexual, or something, or if I just haven’t ever been close enough to someone to be comfortable having sex with them.”  
  
“That’s fair,” Josh said softly. “If it’s worth anything, sexuality isn’t always related to knowing people well – you can be attracted to someone without knowing them.”

 

“I know,” Tyler said. “And that’s why I think it’s more than nerves, I guess? Because if it was just that, why haven’t I ever, like, looked at Pamela Anderson and thought _‘damn’_? Why can’t I get off to porn, or anything?”

 

Josh was quiet again. “Have you ever, like, googled this stuff?” he asked. “Looked up asexuality on sex-ed websites?”

 

“A little bit? But I don’t know for sure. And to be honest, I think I’d be kind of bummed if I was just asexual.”  
  
“How come?”  
  
Tyler shrugged. “I always liked the idea that I’d find someone,” he said. “That I’d be super into them and they’d make me actually feel enthusiastic about sex and wanna go for it with them. I think for a while I’ve been hoping I’d find the ‘right person’, but I’m starting to worry I won’t, that there is no right person, because I just don’t have that capability of being attracted to anyone.”

 

Josh sighed. “That’s a fair concern,” he said. “But, I guess, for starters, despite what society says, sex isn’t this be-all and end-all of joy and pleasure. Many people enjoy it, sure, but plenty of people also don’t. And if you can’t find someone you’re sexually attracted to, you don’t have to rule out the possibility of ever being happy or even loving someone and being in a relationship, because relationships don’t have to revolve around sex and sexual attraction. And second... for what it’s worth, I don’t want to ever push you beyond anything you’re comfortable with.”  
  
Tyler blinked. “Really? I thought, like, being all traditional and stuff, we’d have to _consummate_ at some point.” Just saying it made him blush.

 

Josh laughed. “Look, to be honest, the rings are traditional enough. And truly, I don’t want you to feel afraid or uncomfortable with me, okay? Don’t ever do anything, or let _me_ do anything, if you’re not okay with it. If you wanna just be cuddle buddies, that’s enough for me.”

 

Tyler felt a great lightening in himself, as if a weight had lifted. He relaxed, realising he’d been holding tension in his muscles unconsciously.

He’d expected that he’d be pushed at some point, that things would have to happen. To hear nothing was going to happen if he didn’t want it was, well, a huge relief.

 

“I feel like that’s such a big theme in all the stories, though,” Tyler mumbled. “Look at the titles of the Renaissance paintings. It’s never the marriage of anyone. It’s the _rape_ of Callisto, the _rape_ of Europa. Mortals getting abducted by gods always end up being violated.”

 

“Yeah, well, I don’t hold with that sort of stuff,” Josh said quietly. “It’s a bad theme. One I don’t want to emulate.”

 

Tyler was quiet for a bit, then he spoke again. “Back to the attraction thing, it’s not that I see you platonically, though,” he said. “I don’t think so, anyway. It’s confusing. But, like. I like the idea of doing.. romantic stuff? Like cuddling. Or holding hands. Or kissing.”

 

Josh chuckled. “Romantic attraction isn’t mutually exclusive with sexual attraction,” he said. “You’re allowed to want to kiss and stuff without wanting sex. That’s okay.”

 

“But, like.. _god_. I’m not celibate.”  
  
Josh paused. “What do you mean?”  
  
“I mean.. _ah,_ shit.” Tyler flushed. He wasn’t really sure why he felt he needed to tell Josh so badly, it wasn’t important, and yet... “I get horny, y’know? I like, jerk off and stuff. I like feeling good. But the idea of doing it with someone else feels weird? I mean, I can’t think of someone I’d like to feel good _with_ , you know?”  
  
Josh laughed. “Again, you can have a sex drive, but not be sexually attracted to anyone. That’s pretty normal.”

 

Tyler sighed. “Thanks,” he said. “I know you probably didn’t expect to be acting more like a sex therapist than a husband. I’m amazed you know so much about this stuff, actually.”

 

Josh shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of time to learn,” was all he said.

He cleared his throat. “I know you’ve looked it up, but did you look into, like, types of asexuality?”  
  
“You mean, like, on the spectrum? Not really, I figured it’d just confuse me.”  
  
“That’s fair,” Josh said. “I just wanted to say that, y’know, even if you’re asexual, there’s so many variations, and some of them definitely allow for you finding someone you’re attracted to. It might take a bit of figuring out what the actual parameters are, but you don’t have to rule out the possibility of enjoying sex with someone, if you do actually like the idea of that.”  
  
Tyler shifted. “What sort of variations?”  
  
“Well, I mean, for example, there’s demisexuality,” Josh explained. “Which is basically, like, you have to become close to someone, get to know them properly before you can be attracted to them. So you can’t be attracted to a total stranger, or crush on Pamela Anderson.”  
  
Tyler chuckled, then made a thoughtful sound. “Huh,” he said. “That’s a thought. I’ve never _developed_ feelings for any close friends, though.”

 

“That’s okay. Just something to think about, I guess.”

 

Tyler was silent for a moment, then spoke again. “What about, like... does it allow for the possibility of exceptions? Like I won’t be attracted to anyone as a general rule, but... it’s possible I might find someone who breaks that rule?”

 

Josh laughed. “Of course,” he said. “That’s possible, no matter how you identify. Even if you’re fully asexual, you can always have exceptions. Sexuality isn’t, like, this set-in-stone thing, you know? You can break the rules.”

 

“Hmm.” Tyler could feel his arm and leg going numb. He shifted and flipped over, grateful that Josh loosened his arms to allow him to move.

Facing Josh now, he settled back down, marvelling at the odd little twist in his stomach when Josh rested his arms back around him.

 

“I guess I’ll have a lot of googling to do tomorrow,” Tyler said, and Josh laughed.

 

“But, yeah,” Josh said. “I just want you to know, like.. no matter how you figure it out, it’s okay. If you find you’re asexual, you don’t have to feel bad, or broken, or whatever. It’s not a bad thing, none of it. You’re not, like, barred from some great wonderful thing that everyone’s enjoying, that you’re missing out on. Different people like different things. Just because you don’t like ice cream, and everyone else does, doesn’t mean you’re missing out by not eating ice cream. And you don’t have to feel bad about it in relation to other people as well, I guess? If you don’t want sex with someone, you should never have to apologise for that. Which definitely goes for me too.”

 

Tyler nodded, even though he wasn’t sure Josh could see it, or sense it. “Thank you.”  
  


Josh shrugged. “I just don’t want you to feel bad about anything,” he said softly. “Or like you have to do anything.”

 

Tyler nodded, cheeks heating up. “You’re really sweet, you know that? If I was always doomed to get sucked into an arranged marriage with a monster, I’m really glad it ended up being you.”  
  
Josh laughed. “I don’t know if basic decency counts as ‘sweet’, but I’ll take it,” he said. “You’re pretty sweet too. You’ve been awfully patient about this whole thing.”  
  
Tyler blinked. “Really? I feel like I’ve spent all of my time here mostly being anxious and arguing with everyone.”

 

“Not as far as I know,” Josh said. “You could have thrown a fit, tried to run away, tried to fight the others. You could have punched me in the nose as soon as I got into bed with you. Nobody would have blamed you, that’d be more than understandable, and yet you’ve kind of just taken everything in your stride instead.”

 

“Oh. I thought I was pretty rude to Jenna that first night.”  
  
“Not at all, I think she expected you to make a break for it or something. Getting snappy is, like, absurdly polite for someone being told they have to sit in the dark and wait for a husband they don’t know.”

 

“Hmm. I kinda wish I’d known that earlier, actually.” Tyler smirked. “What if I punched you now?”  
  
Josh snorted. “I’d think it’d be a bit rude _now_ , considering all we talked about, and stuff. But if it turned out you’ve secretly been uncomfortable this entire time, then sure, go for it.”  
  
Tyler chuckled. “No, I won’t punch you. I’m not uncomfortable.”

 

“Also,” Josh added, “I like that you’re saying you’d totally have thrown a tantrum if you knew it was _okay with everyone_. I feel like that’s not the point of throwing a tantrum. You throw a tantrum _because_ you wanna upset people, not because they give you permission to. What would you do if a robber broke into your house? Politely ask them to leave?”

 

“They were _nice_ , okay? If Jenna had been mean or something, I might have gotten defensive. But I wasn’t gonna be a brat when she was offering me cereal and showing me around the house.”

 

Josh laughed. “You did it all for the sake of cereal? Now I know exactly how to bribe you.”  
  
“Not anymore, buddy. Jesse’s converted me to his smoothies.”  
  
“Darn. I guess I’m gonna have to start colluding with Jesse now.”

 

Tyler snorted, and Josh fell silent again.

 

Tyler chewed his lip. “Hey, Josh,” he said slowly. “So, uh, feel free to say no, if you want. But, um, can I kiss you?”  
  
Josh’s breathing stopped for a second. “Um, sure,” he said. “I’m definitely okay with that.”  
  
“Oh, okay. Cool.”  
  
Tyler raised his hands, bumping them awkwardly against Josh’s chest, then his neck. “Just, gotta, um. Find your lips first.”  
  
Josh laughed. “Want me to take over?”  
  
Tyler sighed. “If you can see better than me, sure. Better than me bumbling around in the dark.”

 

Josh laughed, and then Tyler felt warmth very close to his face. Warm breath fanned out over his cheeks, and very soft lips delicately brushed against his own.

 

“Shit, you’ve got good night vision,” Tyler mumbled, and Josh laughed again, pulling away slightly.

He returned with more force, pressing his lips against Tyler’s.

He pulled away again, but Tyler followed him, craning his neck to avoid breaking their lips apart. “Don’t, this is nice,” he protested, making Josh’s chest rumble with laughter again.

 

“Not gonna lie, I didn’t expect you to be this into kissing,” Josh admitted.

 

“I just really like kissing, I don’t know,” Tyler said. “Are you not into kissing?”  
  
“Oh, I’m definitely into kissing.”

Josh’s voice hit an edge that made heat course through Tyler’s body. Wow. That was different.

 

“Okay,” Tyler mumbled, and leaned forward – after that last statement, he’d be damned if he didn’t attempt to kiss something of Josh’s.

His lips hit stubble, and he traced experimentally across Josh’s cheek until he found his lips. He pressed slow kisses to Josh’s lips, sighing when Josh tightened his arms around his waist.

 

Tyler felt Josh’s tongue lick out along his lower lip, and opened his mouth. He felt teeth close gently over his lip, Josh sucking and nibbling on it.

 

Tyler’s head spun. This sure beat out any past kissing he’d taken part in. He couldn’t stop himself letting out a soft noise, and Josh let go, matching his lips to Tyler’s in an open mouthed kiss.  
  


Tyler very quickly decided that kissing was kind of the best.

 

It wasn’t just the kissing of itself, he realised. It was Josh’s arms tight around him, his soft hums and sighs, the hesitant way he tilted his head to kiss him more deeply. Josh was electrifying.

 

Tyler pulled away, breathless. He felt Josh fall still.

 

“You alright?” Josh asked softly.

 

“Yeah, I just needed air,” Tyler murmured. “This is _really_ nice.”

 

Josh laughed, and Tyler felt him lean his head down to press his face into his neck.

Tyler had a mouthful of curls, but Josh’s warm breath on his neck made it hard for him to want to move away.

 

If this was marriage for him, Tyler thought, if for him it got to be cuddling and kissing and talking past midnight, then he decided he didn’t mind.

 

“Hmm,” Josh sighed, as Tyler traced his hands up to play with his hair. “You’ve got really nice lips, Tyler.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Yeah. I like kissing them.”  
  
“Good, because I think I like kissing yours too.” Tyler scratched gently at Josh’s scalp, and he _purred_ , leaning back into his hand.

 

Tyler blinked. “You purr?”  
  
Josh stiffened slightly. “I’m – that was weird. I’m sorry.”  
  
“No, god, it’s fine,” Tyler said. “It was cute, actually. If you wanna do it again, please do. I just didn’t expect cat noises from a _bird_ monster, that’s all.”

 

Josh laughed, relaxing. “Yeah, that’s fair. I can’t really explain that one. It just happens.”  
  
Tyler scratched Josh’s scalp again, eliciting another purr that vibrated through him into Tyler’s chest. “I think I can deal with it,” he said.

He dozed off like that, fingers stroking automatically while Josh purred and cuddled him, head settling into the crook of Tyler’s neck.  
He dimly registered lips pressing once against his neck, and blankets being pulled up around him, before drifting to sleep.

 

 

His dreams were a gentle blur of warm arms and soft lips.

 

 

When he awoke blinking in filtered sunlight, the arms were gone, and even with the blankets, Tyler felt oddly cold without them.

 

-

 

It was very, very difficult to leave the bed with the air cold and the blankets warm and Tyler’s fingers tangled in his hair, but Josh had to manage it.

Tyler’s hands clung to him as he levered himself away, and it broke his heart a tiny bit to pull them away from his shoulders and fold Tyler’s arms into the blankets.

 

He silently dressed, leaving the room just as the first glow of daylight was illuminating the gap in the curtains, and left the house.

 

Blurry was awake in his mansion, early as it was. He looked up from his desk as Josh entered the study, red eyes bright.

 

“You finally got that Joseph kid sorted,” Blurry huffed. “I can feel it. Can’t figure out who the kid’s in love with, though.”  
  
Josh struggled to maintain a neutral expression. For a split second, he was overwhelmed with jealousy – _who had Tyler fallen in love with?_ – before the realisation hit him. Tyler had fallen in love with _him_.

 

“Yeah,” Josh said, fighting to keep the excitement out of his voice. “I, um, found a really, really jealous dude. He’ll be so insecure about fans, he’ll bully Tyler out of writing anything that could be interpreted as romantic. He’ll probably bully him into being a total hermit, eventually. He’ll drift out of the public eye long enough for everyone to forget about him.”

 

Blurry smirked. “Not as exciting as you _could_ have made it,” he said. “But that works. Good to hear he’s taken care of.”

 

Josh shrugged. “The dude's life is ruined,” he said. “You’re glad to hear that?”  
  
Blurry fixed him with a level stare. “Yes,” he said.

 

Josh took a deep breath.

 

Blurry yawned, holding up a sheet of paper. “Today’s assignment,” he said. “I’ve got a boring old hetero couple for you to hook up. If this takes you longer than today, I’ll be annoyed, they’re an easy job.”  
  
Josh took the sheet of paper, reading it. “Both middle-aged divorcees? That’s really cute, actually. Second chance at love and all that.”  
  
“Yeah,” Blurry snorted. “Whatever. Dude’s a serial cheater, that’s how his first marriage ended. He’ll probably cheat on her, too.”

 

Josh bit his tongue, and nodded. “Alright. I’ll sort ‘em out.”

 

“Good.”

 

Josh left the house, sighing and spreading his wings.

 

He hated his job.

 

-

 

Tyler holed himself up in the music room. Right now, he just really needed to write. And with all of the house gone except for Mark, who was holed up himself in the study, today seemed like a perfect opportunity.

 

He noodled away at the piano keys, thinking hard. His thoughts kept drifting away from chords and possible rhymes to a soft voice that belonged to a person he wasn’t sure he really properly knew.

 

He’d spent so much time worrying that he’d never fall in love, only to fall head over heels for someone whose face was a mystery to him.

He was used to describing things in colours and shapes, but Josh was just sound and abstract forms to him. Hands that he could feel were soft and knobbled and callous around the pads of his fingers, but that couldn’t tell him everything.

What colour were they? Were they dark with ashy patches where the callouses were, or tan and brown like his? Or lighter, pale with red knuckles and blue veins?

Did he have scars that his fingers mistook for wrinkle folds? Tattoos? What colour was his hair, even? Or eyes?

 

It was so much more than simply not knowing what he looked like. It was the inability to complete the nebulous picture in his head, to fully know Josh as much as humanly possible. And unlike Josh, Tyler _was_ human. He had an innate need to know him in human ways.

 

And in the same way his colours and visual details were hidden, so was his life. Tyler could only ever learn so much about Josh before he ran into brick wall after brick wall. Things that he was told he was safer not knowing. Things that he tried to dismiss as not important, but how could Josh’s job be unimportant considering that’s where he _was_ all day, from before sunrise til after dark?

 

Tyler missed him, now. A few hours each night before drifting to sleep wasn’t going to be enough. Tyler wanted Josh’s days and his life, not just his nights.

 

He groaned, taking his hands off the keys and kneading them into his eyes. God, he was so _stupid_. Letting himself get attached. It was dumb. How had he even gotten attached so quickly?

 

There was a knock on the door. “It’s open,” Tyler grumbled.

 

Mark poked his head in. “I’m not disturbing important musical genius, am I?” he asked.

 

Tyler snorted. “Hardly, come in,” he said. “I’ve got writer’s block anyway.”  
  
Mark entered the room, laptop tucked under his arm. “Good, because I’m in a creative rut too,” he said, pulling a chair across and sitting down.

 

Tyler eyed the laptop. “Creative rut? What do you do?” he asked.

 

“Video editing, some photo editing, that kind of thing,” Mark said with a shrug. “It’s a hobby more than anything else, but y’know. It’s fun.”

 

“Show me?”  
  
Mark opened his laptop, and flicked through some photos. Every now and then he’d hit a video, and they’d watch half a minute or so of footage before Mark moved on.  
  
“You shoot bands?” Tyler asked. “That’s awesome, dude. It’d have been super cool to have you in the photo pit at some of my shows.”

 

“Thanks,” Mark said. “I prefer shooting bands, I guess. Shooting shows is fun.”

 

“This is just your hobby? I’ve see pros with less skill than you.”  
  
Mark shrugged. “I technically already have a day job,” he said. “I shoot when I’m not working. I’m lucky that some days require me to visit the mortal world, so I have an excuse to take breaks and see a few shows while I’m there.”

 

“That’s so cool.”

 

Mark smirked. “Yeah, it kind of is,” he said.

His smile faded after a few moments. “So, I don’t wanna pry,” he said, glancing at Tyler. “But how are things going with Josh?”  
  
Tyler sighed. “Um, good, I guess,” he said.

 

Mark raised an eyebrow. “You don’t _sound_ like it’s all going good.”

 

Tyler groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Well, I mean, like,” he tried to explain, “It’s not that he’s gross, or annoying, or unpleasant, or something. We get along super well. Really well. I _really_ like him, Mark.”

 

Mark nodded slowly. “I think I’m starting to see the problem,” he said.

 

“Yeah,” Tyler grumbled. “It’s been two days, and I’ve fallen head over heels for a dude I barely even know. I don’t even fully know what he looks like, or where he works, or _what_ he is. But I know his favourite band and the fact that he likes cats.”  
  
Mark snorted with laughter. “Ah, yes, the important things.”  
  
“Yeah. It’s weird and I don’t really get it. Or why I like him so much despite how _weird_ the whole situation is. And that freaks me out?” He glanced up at Mark for advice.

 

Mark sighed. “Well, you’re not wrong about it being a weird situation,” he admitted. “And yeah, two days is really fast for you two to just _attach_ to each other. Are you being all gross and cuddly, too?”  
  
Tyler flushed, and Mark groaned. “I don’t want to know,” he said firmly.

 

Mark shrugged. “I don’t know, Tyler,” he said. “I know it’s weird, I know you feel odd about knowing some things, but not everything. I know it’s a really weird way to start a relationship. But... I think on this, you’re gonna have to go with your instincts. Do you know what those are?”

 

Tyler chewed his lip. “Not really,” he said. “I guess I miss him. I want to find him and cuddle him and be gross.”

 

Mark laughed. “Yeah, well. If that’s how you feel, then I say go with that. I mean, not that you can go find him right now. But if you feel like it’s the right thing to be with him, then go with that. And just take things as they come, I guess. Trust your instincts, trust that you can figure out what to do even without having all the information.”  
  
Tyler sighed. “I feel like I’ve heard the word ‘trust’ a lot,” he said.

 

“You sure have,” Mark confirmed. “And importantly, you _have_ trusted us, and Josh, to an extent. Which is good. Because trust right now is important, which is why you keep hearing about it.”

 

Tyler nodded. He couldn’t say he was satisfied with Mark’s answers, but Mark was right. And it was nice having _some_ answers, even if they weren’t the ones he really wanted.

 

“Anyway,” Mark said, picking up his laptop and standing up. “I can’t distract you from your musical genius for too long, so. I’ll see you later, yeah?”  
  
“Sure,” Tyler said with a smile as Mark opened the door. “Good luck with your creative rut, Mark.”  
  
“You too,” Mark said.  
  
Tyler blinked. “Wait, Mark,” he called.

 

Mark paused at the door, glancing back at him.

 

“Is there a, uh, shared computer I can borrow real quick?” he asked sheepishly. “Just wanna google some things.”  
  
-

 

When Josh returned home, he found himself cornered by Jenna.

 

“Um, hi,” he said, wondering if this would be quick. He really wanted to just shower, change, and climb into bed with Tyler.

 

Jenna was giving him a half-panicked, half-furious look.

 

“Someone’s been googling on the shared PC,” she hissed frantically. “And all the recent searches are stuff like ‘asexuality’, ‘grey-ace’, ‘demisexuality’, stuff like that. I know it’s not any of _us_ , because we all figured out that shit centuries ago, which means it was your _husband_. The one in your bed. Who thinks he might be asexual.”

 

She gestured wildly with her hands. “Josh, what the _fuck_ ,” she squeaked.

 

Josh held his hands up defensively. “Jenna, chill, I know,” he said. “I told him to, alright? I know he’s not, like, generally attracted to people sexually. It’s fine. Last night I just suggested he google it and see if he can figure it out a bit more, because we talked about it and he seemed worried.”

 

Jenna groaned. “Have you _done_ anything together yet?” she asked. “Shit, Josh, you’ve been sharing a _bed_.”

 

“Of course not,” Josh said firmly. “I wouldn’t – jesus, Jenna. Never.”  
  
“Then what have you been doing?”  
  
“ _Sleeping?_ ” Josh said incredulously. “Beds aren’t just for sex, Jen.”  
  
“Tyler said you stayed up late together the other night.”  
  
“We did. We were _talking_.”  
Josh sighed. “Look, the most we’ve done is a bit of cuddling, some kissing,” he said, feeling his face flush. “Nothing I didn’t make sure he was okay with. Shit, he kissed _me_. And if that’s as far as he wants to take it, that’s fine. I’m not going to force him to do anything.”

 

Jenna sighed shakily. “Fine,” she said. “But god, Josh, if he breathes a _word_ about you doing anything, I swear, I’ll come down on your ass like divine fucking lightning.”

 

Josh blinked. _Oh_.  
Jenna was being protective.

His heart surged a little bit. _They’re growing fond of Tyler._

 

Jenna glared at him. “What are you smirking about?” she demanded.

 

Josh grinned. “Nothing, Jen,” he said. “Look, I’ve gotta go shower. You take care, yeah?”  
  
“Yeah,” Jenna said uneasily.

 

“Goodnight, Jenna.”  
  
“Night, Josh. Be _careful_.”

 

Josh nodded as he passed her, heading to the bathroom.

 

When he finished showering and slipped into the bedroom, he heard Tyler shuffle, blankets rustling.

“Hi, Ty,” he said softly, closing the door behind him.

 

“Hey,” Ty replied. Josh could just see his outline on the bed, barely detectable in the dark room. Tyler had been right – he did have good night vision; supernaturally good night vision. It allowed him to see just enough of Tyler to make out his general form – scruffy hair, lanky body, wide eyes barely glinting.

 

Josh made his way over to it, sinking into the bed with a sigh. The soft mattress and blankets always felt blessedly comforting against his sore muscles.

 

Tyler immediately rolled over into Josh’s chest. “Missed you,” he mumbled softly, and Josh’s chest ached.

 

He shuffled down into the blankets and wrapped his arms around Tyler. “Missed you too,” he said. “How did you go today?”  
  
“I did some more googling,” Tyler said. “Had a look at some of those other ace-spectrum sexualities you were talking about.”  
  
“Any of ‘em stand out?”  
  
“Not heaps,” Tyler said, “but I guess it was good to learn about them? I’m just still not really sure, Josh. I think it’s something that’ll take a bit more than google searching to figure out. Fieldwork, so to speak.”  
  
Josh laughed. “Fieldwork is one way to put it. Don’t do anything if you don’t feel comfortable with it, though. If you try something and it doesn’t feel right, stop.”

 

He felt Tyler nod against his chest. “Thanks, Josh,” he said softly.

 

Josh cleared his throat. “Also, uh,” he said, “if.. you feel like you need to experiment with other people... it could get tricky logistically, but I’m sure we could figure something out...”  
  
Tyler made an incredulous noise, lifting his head. “Other people?!”

 

Josh flushed. “So you can find someone you’re attracted to,” he bleated nervously. “You don’t have to stick with me, if.. you know...”

 

Tyler laughed softly. “Josh, you’re talking like I haven’t already tried anything like that. I might not have gotten far beyond kissing, but I’ve done enough to know experimenting isn’t something that really works for me.”

 

Josh winced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to imply...”  
  
“Shh, stop apologising. You’re fine, I know you’re trying to help.”  
  
Tyler fiddled with the blanket, worrying the fabric in his fingers. “When I said fieldwork, I meant with _you_ ,” he said. “I mean, I already like you better than I think I’ve liked anyone in my whole life.”

 

Josh blinked. “Really?”

 

“Really,” Tyler said. “It’s.. weird, I guess, because it all feels really unfamiliar? But some of the stuff I read today kind of explained it. I’m definitely _romantically_ attracted to you. And I don’t think I’ve been strongly romantically attracted to anyone before, which is weird. But yeah. As for sex, I don’t know. Sometimes I feel sexually attracted to you? At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. But not all the time. Only sometimes. Mostly I just want to cuddle you.”

 

He pulled the blanket up to his mouth, covering it. Josh was fairly certain he could faintly detect the boy’s cheeks going pink. “As for sex, I guess... I’m open to the idea of it? With you, anyway, because I like you. I’m not freaked out or repulsed by the idea of sex with you.”  
  
Josh nodded. “That’s fair, I understand that,” he said. “And, um..” Josh felt his cheeks flush. “I’m... really glad. Because I like you too. And cuddling you. And stuff.”

 

Tyler laughed, resting his head back on Josh’s chest. “Kissing too?”  
  
“Always.”

 

They lay quietly for a while, Josh feeling like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Tyler was warm against him, all sighs and soft hair and steady heartbeat, and Josh decided he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

 


	6. I just want to stay in the sun where I find

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> me at myself: OKAY LETS MOVE THINGS ALONG NOW LETS GO

As the days passed, a cycle began to form.

Tyler woke up alone.  
He went into the kitchen, grabbed cereal, or a smoothie if Jesse was already pottering in the kitchen. He’d talk to whoever was in the room – Jesse, often, but frequently also Jenna and Mark, and occasionally Michael, who was usually gone by the time Tyler woke.

He’d head to the music room to write, or ruminate. Sometimes they went hand in hand, and Tyler would take out his frustration with the questions he couldn’t answer on the piano. Sometimes his doubts and questions would make their way into lyrics, poetically dressed up so nobody could possibly answer them.

Sometimes, he’d ask them to whoever else was in the house.

Mark always got a shifty look, glancing sideways and chewing his lip when he asked questions. Jenna would get a look like a deer caught in the headlights, and stammer and ramble around the subject until she’d wrestled it into something else.  
Jesse would shrug sympathetically, and offer sage wisdom and positivity quips that made Tyler feel better, but didn’t ever actually help with the question. Michael would just shrug and play clueless.

Tyler would sit uneasy until evening, when everyone got home and the house fell into a weird sort of domesticity.

Mark would emerge from the study, people would trickle into the living room. Tyler might get invited to play Mario Kart. Michael or Jenna might cook dinner.

Then Tyler would leave, shower, go to bed.

And Josh would return.

 

And even with his unanswered questions and frustration with everything about the situation, Tyler would fall at ease at last. It was like he couldn’t relax anymore unless he had Josh in his arms.

He would feel Josh slide into bed and suddenly the questions didn’t seem to matter so much anymore.

 

How had this even happened? Tyler marvelled at it one night when, after a particularly bad day where it all culminated into an anxiety attack that left him shaking underneath the piano stool, all Josh had to do was pull him into a hug and he felt his hands stop trembling.

 

“Jesse said you didn’t have such a good day today,” Josh murmured. “Everything okay?”  
  
Tyler sighed. “I’m a bit better now,” he said. “I just got.. overwhelmed, I guess. I’m okay now.”

 

“Wanna talk about it?”  
  
Tyler shook his head. “We can’t,” he said softly. “It’s just.. all the same questions you can’t answer. It just all got to me today.”

 

Josh sighed, air whooshing out of his lungs. “I’m sorry. If I could tell you, even just to help you feel at ease, I would, but..”  
  
“I know. I know you’d tell me if you could. But you can’t. And I guess that worries me too, because something’s stopping you, and I don’t know what it is, but it scares me that it’s enough to stop you.”

 

Josh was silent, pressing his face into Tyler’s neck. Tyler took a deep breath.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

 

Josh laughed hollowly. “All the time,” he said. “We can’t tell you anything _because_ we’re scared. I’m constantly scared all of this is gonna get taken away. We’re only a few lumens away from that, and that’s all I can tell you. It scares me that I have to trust you to do something you hate having to do, and I can’t even tell you why it’s so important.”

Josh was starting to shake too, and this was something Tyler felt a twinge of guilt about when he realised – he hadn’t considered that Josh could be just as afraid and frustrated as he was.

He lifted his head, sliding his arms around Josh’s body and shifting him so he was resting against Tyler’s chest. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said softly, carding his fingers through Josh’s hair.

“It’s not okay,” Josh said. “You don’t understand, and I can’t help you understand why – all of this is hanging by a thread, Tyler. You’re one question or one candle away from all of this going up in flames.”

“I know, I know,” Tyler said, smoothing his hands down Josh’s quivering arms. He took the scared monster’s hands. “I know. Well, I don’t know, but I guess – I know that I don’t know?”  
  
Josh snorted, and Tyler tried again.

“I know that it scares you, and that’s enough,” he said.

“It’s not enough,” Josh protested. “It’s not enough if it leaves you still anxious and questioning and uneasy -”

“Hey.” Tyler leaned down to kiss Josh. His lips found a forehead, and he pecked his way down Josh’s face until he reached his lips. He pressed their lips together gently, until Josh’s trembling subsided a little.

“I’m still scared and anxious, but I trust you, okay?” Tyler said. “I trust that you’re keeping the answers because you care about me. I trust that you’re not doing it because you want to hide stuff from me. Please trust that I trust you.”

 

Josh sighed. “Alright,” he said softly. “I trust you too.”

 

Some nights they ignored the questions completely, talking about bands and favourite foods and funny movies. Tyler would tell him about his family, about his friends from the record label. Josh would tell him about all the strange, unique things he’d seen on missions, from cars pimped out with a Power Puff Girls theme, to UFOs and cryptid hunters.

Some nights they didn’t talk at all, and Tyler lay on Josh’s chest, or Josh burrowed into Tyler’s neck, or Josh draped his wings over them both in a feathered fort.

Tyler had never been a fan of nights before, but now he was starting to look forward to them.

 

-

 

“So, have you two, like, done the do yet?”  
  
Jesse’s question made Tyler flush, Jenna gasp, Michael chuckle, and Mark’s face twist into a grimace.

 

“For the love of god, why would you want to know?” Mark groaned. “Ew. It’s breakfast, Jesse, it’s way too early for that kind of nonsense.”  
  


“That’s hardly any of your business,” Jenna scolded. “Mark’s right, why do you need to know?”

Jesse shrugged. “I’m just curious,” he said. “Wanna know how things are progressing, I guess.”

“Relationships aren’t a series of leveling up,” Michael said reproachfully, and Jesse had the good grace to look remorseful.

 

“Although, it’s a fair question,” Michael suddenly said. “I mean, do we need to, uh, provide anything?”  
  
Tyler didn’t think his face could get any redder. “Like what? I’m very much not in need of anything, thank you!”  
  
Michael held his hands up defensively. “Just putting it out there, feel free to come ask if you do need anything,” he said. “No judgement here. This is a judgement free zone.”

 

Mark snorted.

 

“Sorry, Tyler,” Jesse added. “I wasn’t meaning to be rude, but I guess I gotta work on that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tyler said. “I’ll have another smoothie if you wanna make it up to me, though.”  
  
Jesse beamed. “Best-buds-reconciliation smoothie coming right up!” he announced, hopping up from the dining table to head to the kitchen.

 

Later, though, Tyler couldn’t get the question out of his head. Was it maybe time to think about moving beyond kissing?  
He’d been staying in the mansion for around two weeks, now. In all that time, he’d never felt the need to move beyond kissing and affectionate touches, cuddling. It just hadn’t been something that had occurred to him.  
And if Josh had wanted to move on, he’d never made any sign of it. Never pushed, never strayed his hands or even asked about it. He seemed intent on waiting for Tyler to initiate.  
And while Tyler was grateful if that was the case, it did make him wonder if he should try initiating more intimate stuff soon.

 

He considered it again at the end of the day, while in the shower. Tried to imagine it.

It was hard to visualise, considering Tyler couldn’t _see_ Josh, but he could try to imagine how it might feel. Josh’s hands on his chest, back, ass. Tried to imagine them sliding to his front, stroking his cock.

 

Tyler blinked away water. He wasn’t _opposed_ to the idea, exactly. But he found himself disappointingly neutral to it. He’d half hoped he’d have more of a _reaction_ to the thought of Josh touching him. Hence why he’d held off thinking about it until he’d got into the shower. _So much for that idea._

 

He tried thinking about Josh’s soft voice, hitting that deep half-growl. Thought of his laugh, how gentle his hands were when they did touch him.

Thought about touching Josh, thought about how he might sound in a rush of arousal.

See, and _that_ made his cheeks heat up and a smile pull at his lips.

 

He groaned. He was such a mess.

 

He finished his shower, went to bed, and waited. And Josh evidently figured out something was on his mind as soon as he arrived and crawled into the bed. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked, stroking his hands through Tyler’s hair. “You’re all quiet.”  
Tyler heard him breathe in sharply. “Did you have another attack?”  
  
“No, no, I’m fine,” Tyler reassured him. “Just thinking about something.”  
  
“Hmm.” Josh nuzzled into his chest. “Penny for your thoughts?”  
  
Tyler laughed. “You can have them for free if you kiss me.”  
  
“That’s not technically free, then,” Josh grumbled, but he craned up and kissed Tyler gently, smiling against his mouth.

 

“Okay, now you have to tell me,” Josh said, pulling away. “Them’s the rules.”  
  


Tyler hummed, trying to figure out how best to approach what he wanted. Could you just ask someone if you could touch them, and vice versa? Would that work?

 

“I’m thinking,” he finally said, “about the fact that I really like you, and I kind of want to touch you, and maybe have you touch me too, but I don’t really know how to go about that.”  
  
Josh laughed. “Okay, well,” he said, and Tyler was pretty sure Josh’s cheeks had become hot. “I’d be lying if I said I was expecting that. Not that I’m not totally down for it. You sure about it?”  
  
Tyler nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  


Josh leaned in to kiss him again, and this time it was different – intense and hungry, Josh tilting his head to deepen the kiss. He pushed Tyler onto his back against the pillows, shifting to straddle him. His hands slowly skated down Tyler’s sides, sliding under his shirt to splay out against his chest.

“This good?” Josh murmured softly, and Tyler responded with a moan when Josh brushed his fingers over his nipples. _Shit_ , it felt good. He wanted more of it.

Tyler disentangled his fingers from Josh’s hair, sliding his hands down to mirror Josh’s movements, circling Josh’s nipples with his thumbs. He felt Josh’s body tauten under his touch, breath catching.

 

He smirked. “That good?”  
  
“ _God_ , yeah,” Josh breathed. He hummed as Tyler ran his hands down his abdomen, thumbs tracing his hipbones. Tyler left his hands there, rubbing circles into Josh’s hips while Josh trailed kisses down his throat, hot, wet mouth leaving electric circles of sensitivity in its wake.

Tyler moved his hands around Josh’s hips to squeeze his buttocks, smirking when it made Josh moan and press his face into Tyler’s neck. 

Josh collected himself and made himself busy with pushing Tyler’s shirt up and kissing a path down his chest. His lips closed around one of Tyler’s nipples, and Tyler squeezed his eyes shut, gasping at the sensation.

“H-hmm, that’s nice,” Tyler murmured, body arching slightly against Josh’s. The heat and texture of Josh’s tongue was _so much_ against the sensitive tissue.

Josh hummed in response, hands sliding down to brush over Tyler’s boxers. He cupped his palm over Tyler, looking up at Tyler to gauge his reaction.

Tyler moaned softly, hips lifting to increase the pressure. Josh chuckled, rolling his palm and sending a jolt of pleasure through Tyler, making his hips buck up.

“More, please,” Tyler whimpered. His head was starting to spin a little, heat building in the pit of his lower stomach.

 

Josh slowly pulled down Tyler’s boxers, tentatively stroking along Tyler’s cock once it was free. Tyler groaned. “Please don’t tease,” he whined.

 

“Just wanna be gentle,” Josh said softly, leaning up and kissing the hollow of Tyler’s throat. “Don’t wanna move too fast.”  
  
“You’re not moving too fast, I promise,” Tyler said, tangling his fingers in Josh’s hair again, scratching his scalp. “You’re being perfect.”

Tyler felt Josh smile against his throat, and a hand wrapped gently around his cock. Tyler moaned at the contact, and moaned louder when Josh gave him a couple of dry strokes.

 

“Hold on,” Josh whispered, pulling away. Tyler heard a spitting sound, and Josh’s hand returned, wet with saliva and sliding wonderfully slick down his cock. He arched into the touch, sighing.

 

“Want – want me to touch you?” Tyler murmured, breaking off into a whimper as Josh twisted his wrist.

Josh nodded. “If you can reach,” he said. “If you want.”

 

Tyler nodded vigorously. “I definitely want,” he said, running his hands down Josh’s torso. He reached carefully down, pulling down Josh’s boxers, fingers brushing through a patch of soft curls before stroking delicate, velvety skin. Josh shuddered, moaning softly.

Josh was already hard, making Tyler’s cheeks flush. It felt weird to think Josh could be so aroused just from, what? Touching Tyler? His heart thudded.

He wrapped his hand around Josh’s cock – _shit, if he wasn’t mistaken, it was a decent bit thicker and longer than his own, and Tyler didn’t consider himself small_ – stroking at a pace that matched Josh’s hand. Josh’s hand stuttered slightly, and Tyler could hear him starting to pant.

 

“Mm – too dry, Tyler,” Josh murmured. “Hold on.”  
  
Josh took Tyler’s wrist with his free hand, raising it away from his cock. Tyler heard him spitting again, and a gob of saliva landed in his palm, wetting his hand.

Josh guided Tyler’s hand back down, sighing breathily when Tyler stroked him again, hips rolling into Tyler’s movements.

“Better?” Tyler asked.

“Mmm, so much better,” Josh sighed, chest rumbling into a purr. “You’re good at this, Ty.”  
  
Tyler blushed. His handjob experience was very minimal, so he’d been unable to help feeling a little afraid that he’d be unable to make Josh feel sufficiently good.  
Especially with Josh’s hand building up a hot furnace of pleasure in Tyler’s stomach with each stroke. Tyler’s mind was spinning with it, and the aching need for _more_ , somehow. Josh caught his lips in a heady kiss, and Tyler decided this was pretty great.

“This is so much better than just jacking off in the shower,” Tyler pulled away to moan, throwing his head back into the pillow, and Josh laughed.

 

“You must be close by now,” Josh panted, voice distorted slightly by his purring. Tyler arched his back to press his body against Josh’s, letting his thrumming chest rumble through him, vibrating in his bones.

“No,” Tyler murmured. “Not yet. Are you?”  
  
“Kind of? I haven’t done this in a while,” Josh confessed, shuddering when Tyler twisted his wrist. “Holy _god_ , Ty.”

“How long is a while?” Tyler teased.

‘Don’t make me answer,” Josh said sheepishly. “Probably before you were born.”

 

Tyler started laughing. He had to stop touching Josh, turning his head away to laugh into the pillow.

“That’s so weird, Josh,” he giggled. “That’s really weird.”

“Yeah, well,” Josh said uncomfortably. “Despite my job, I don’t get out as often as I probably could. Or should.”  
  
“You really don’t. Okay. Let’s not talk about that again, that was too weird.”  
  
“You’re right, and thank you. Please let me forget this conversation ever happened.”

 

Tyler resumed his rhythm, still smirking. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

 

Josh snorted. “You don’t even know what I look like!”  
  
“I know enough. I mean, you sound cute, and you say cute things, so that’s enough.”  
  
Josh chuckled. “Okay.”

He moaned, burying his head in Tyler’s neck. “ _Mmm._ I’m really close, Ty.”  
His voice hit a high, desperate note, sending streaks of arousal through Tyler’s body with the intensity of it. He wanted to hear it again. Wanted to make Josh fall apart, and he wasn’t sure where that desire had come from.

Tyler sped up his strokes, heat striking in his stomach at how it made Josh shudder and whimper.

“Fuck,” Josh whispered, hand faltering as he tried to keep up with Tyler’s rhythm.

Tyler could feel Josh’s mouth open wide against his throat, like a silent scream. “ _Tyler,_ ” he whimpered, hips thrusting into his hand.

Josh let out a choked moan and shuddered, free hand grabbing at Tyler’s waist. His body shook over him, whimpers and gasps ripping the darkness as Josh worked through his orgasm into Tyler’s hand. Tyler felt spurts of something warm and wet land on his stomach, flushing as he realised Josh had come all over him.

Josh slumped over him, panting and trembling, hand still weakly working Tyler’s cock. His breaths slowed as he came down from his high, and his hand returned to a steady, considered rhythm.  
And if having Josh fall apart over him hadn’t pushed him over the edge he was now desperately teetering on, Josh crawling down to kitten-lick at Tyler’s cock certainly did.  
He flinched, gasping, only realising what was happening when he felt Josh’s warm, slick tongue slide up his cock, close to the head. “ _Fuck,_ ” he whimpered, and that was it; his hips stuttered out of control as heat flashed over his body and his mind went blank, save for the single desire to chase the pleasure coursing through his veins.

 

As he came back to earth, still reeling from the force of his orgasm, Tyler realised he could feel Josh’s tongue gently licking at his thighs and hips.

 

“Wh-what are you doing?” Tyler managed, reaching his hand down to bury his fingers through Josh’s hair.

“Cleaning up,” Josh said sheepishly, and Tyler felt his body give a very valiant effort at becoming aroused again. _Oh._

“Shit. Wish I could see that.”

“Mm,” Josh said, smiling against Tyler’s thigh. “Just, um, we don’t have tissues, and I don’t wanna mess up the sheets...”

Tyler laughed. “Of course, we can’t risk ruining the sheets. Don’t let me stop you.”

 

It felt kind of weird, but also nice, having Josh’s tongue rhythmically lapping against his skin. It was easy to zone out to, and Tyler let himself drift in a warm bubble of contentment as Josh cleaned him up.

Josh pressed a couple of soft kisses to Tyler’s lower stomach, and it was so sweet that it made Tyler’s chest hurt.

 

Josh eventually made it up to Tyler’s chest, and crawled up to curl around him, head resting in the crook of Tyler’s neck.

“Okay, all clean,” he mumbled, purring faintly. “How are you feeling?”  
  
“Hmm, I’m good,” Tyler sighed. “I liked that. All of it.”

“Yeah? You weren’t uncomfortable, or anything?”  
  
“Hmm? No, it was nice.” Tyler returned to his default of tangling his hand in Josh’s hair, scratching gently at his scalp. “I liked it with you.”

 

Josh made a noise of contentment, and sat up to pull the blankets up over them. He returned to his spot under Tyler’s arm, spreading one wing out over the both of them.

 

“I think I like it better in practice than in theory,” Tyler mused. “If I just think about it, I’m pretty neutral. Not grossed out, but I’m not, like, super aroused. But in practice, I guess my body just naturally responds to stuff? Like, if you touch me, of course it’s gonna feel good, I guess. So that makes it way better than if I’m just thinking about it.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting,” Josh murmured. “I guess that’s good.”  
  
“It is, I think? It also helps that we have an emotional connection. I like you a lot, so I like pretty much everything you do.”

Josh smiled. “Yeah?”  
  
“Yeah. Like, a _lot_.” Tyler flushed. “I think, uh, I kind of might be falling in love with you.”

  
  
Josh smiled so wide, Tyler could feel faintly sharp teeth against his neck. “That’s kind of awesome,” Josh said. “Because, um, I’m definitely in love with you.”  
  
Tyler blinked, heart speeding up. “Really?”  
  
Josh flushed, stiffening and shifting uncomfortably. “Was that weird? I’m sorry, I just, um –”  
  
“Shh, no,” Tyler said, stroking Josh’s hair. “It’s – I’m happy. I’m really glad to hear that. I kind of can’t believe it, a little.”

“Oh,” Josh said, relaxing. “ _Oh_. Okay.”

 

Tyler kissed what he could reach of Josh’s head, planting his lips against soft curls. “I think I’m, like, two more sweet comments or a kiss away from falling in love with you,” he admitted. “You’re so cute.”

Josh laughed softly, reaching up to meet Tyler’s lips. “I better hurry up, then.”

 

-

 

The next day, Tyler left the music room to find Jesse and Jenna in the living room, locked in an intense Mario Kart game.

 

“Hey, guys,” he said. Jenna ran off the road, and swore horribly. Jesse whooped and held up his hand to high five Tyler. “Thanks, my dude!” he crowed.

“Um, you’re welcome,” Tyler said sheepishly, while Jenna narrowed her eyes and pouted at him.

“Did you arrange for him to come in and distract me?” Jenna demanded, and Jesse laughed.  
“Nah, just got lucky,” he said. “What’s up, Ty?”

 

“I was wondering,” Tyler said, sitting on the couch next to Jenna. “So, um. I can’t leave the house, yeah? But can other people come and leave here freely?”  
  
“Other mortals?” Jesse asked. “Well, yeah, I guess. So long as they stayed within the mansion, we could bring people here and take them home.”

“They wouldn’t be able to stay here, though,” Jenna said. “No major reason, we just don’t have any spare beds.”

 

“Oh,” Tyler said. “So, um.” He fidgeted nervously. “Would it, uh, be okay if my family could visit?”  
  
Jenna’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Tyler!” she exclaimed. “You must miss them so much. Of course you can have them over!”

 

“Really?” Tyler blinked. “There’s nothing wrong with that?”  
  
“Not at all,” Jesse said. “I’m just sorry we didn’t think of it earlier. We should have known you would be missing your family.” He had a remorseful look on his face, chewing his lip guiltily.

“It’s okay! I didn’t really think to ask, I kind of just assumed that couldn’t happen,” Tyler said. “I’m just – wow. That’s _awesome_.”

 

“When do you want them over?” Jenna asked. “We’ll have to do some preplanning, so they can’t exactly come over this afternoon, but we could plan to bring them soon.”  
  
“As soon as possible,” Tyler said. “How many people at a time can you bring over?”  
  
“Probably no more than three in one go,” Jesse said, glancing at Jenna. “We’ll struggle to fly them up, otherwise.”  
  
“That’s okay!” Tyler said. “Maybe just my siblings the first time, then. And then my parents can come up another time.”

“Perfect!” Jenna said. “We’ll talk to the others, see if we can bring them up tomorrow, or the day after. I’m sure they’ll be desperate to know you’re okay, too.”

 

“They would be,” Tyler murmured. God, it had been two weeks. Guilt gnawed at his stomach – here he’d been living in the lap of luxury, and his family had probably been worried sick, thinking he was being held captive by a monster – or worse, already dead.

 

“Don’t worry, dude, we’ve got it covered,” Jesse said with a reassuring grin. “Family reunion time it is!”

 

Tyler smiled, and settled on the couch as Jesse and Jenna restarted their game, Jenna determined to make up for having been distracted and losing earlier.

Suddenly, he just felt really lucky. Of all the things that he’d expected, laughing at Mario Kart with people he was beginning to feel able to call real friends was not what he’d ever imagined when he’d been standing in front of Father Ambrose over two weeks ago.

Things had somehow turned out for the best, and he was so relieved about that.

He couldn’t wait to tell his siblings about it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all sappy pillow talk is my jam and 90% of why I picked a story that has the romantic couple mostly only seeing each other in bed at night so ALL I CAN WRITE IS SAPPY PILLOW TALK
> 
> and second, lumens are a measurement of light as its emitted from a light source. The more lumens, the brighter the light.


	7. Pieces of peace in the sun's peace of mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler's siblings come to visit, and it turns out seeds of doubt grow alarmingly fast.
> 
> Preceding all that, though, Ty and Josh find time to get down ;)  
> by which I mean proceed with caution; smut abounding~

Later that night, Tyler waited in anticipation to tell Josh the news.

 

“Jesse and Jenna said I might be able to have my siblings up to visit tomorrow,” Tyler said, once Josh had come inside the room and crawled into bed, slipping his arms around Tyler.

Josh made a happy sound. “That’s awesome!” he said. “Are you excited?”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be so nice to see them,” Tyler said, smiling. “I’m kind of nervous, though.

Josh shifted. “How come?”

“Just.. not sure how they’re gonna react,” Tyler said, fiddling with the sheets. “To all this, I guess. I’m scared they’re gonna be angry.”

“I don’t see why,” Josh said. “I think more than anything, they’ll just be so glad to see you.”

 

“I hope so,” Tyler mumbled. He rolled into Josh’s chest, pressing his face into the warm skin. “I really hope so.”  
  
“Hey,” Josh murmured, stroking Tyler’s hair. “It’s gonna be okay. Alright? They’re your family, they love you. They miss you as much as you miss them. All you really need to worry about is making sure Jesse doesn’t try to force-feed them smoothies.”  
  


Tyler snorted, laughing into Josh’s chest. “Oh man. My sister’s gonna love him.”

 

“Well, in that case you don’t really have anything to worry about,” Josh said. “Yeah? I’m sure it’ll be okay.”  
  
“Thanks,” Tyler said, sighing. “I think I might be able to actually sleep, now.”  
  
Josh laughed. “That’s good. You don’t wanna have dark circles tomorrow.”  
  
Tyler snorted. “That would be a tragedy. Kiss me?”  
  
Josh laughed again, shifting and leaning down to oblige. “So demanding. You’re lucky you’re so cute.”

 

“Hmm, I don’t hear you complaining,” Tyler said, smiling when Josh’s lips found his, hot breath fanning over his face as Josh gently kissed him.

 

Tyler reached up, cupping Josh’s jaw. He slowly brushed it down Josh’s neck, tracing every curve, and smirked when it made Josh’s breath hitch.

He traced both his hands down Josh’s chest, before sliding them around to his back and running them up over his muscles, brushing the soft down feathers at the base of his wings. Curious, he massaged his fingers into the down feathers, smoothing them up over the more defined feathers over his wings.

Josh shuddered. “Don’t,” he warned. “That’s sensitive.”  
  
“Really?” Tyler asked, suddenly seized with curiosity and delight. He pressed harder, grinning when Josh gasped.

 

“Does that feel good?” Tyler asked. Josh groaned and nodded.

“I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have told you they’re sensitive,” he grumbled, and Tyler giggled.

“Too late now,” Tyler said. “This is kind of cool.”

 

He massaged his fingers carefully into the feathers, lifting them but not pushing them the wrong way or messing them up. Josh arched into his touch, shuddering slightly.

 

“Could I feasibly get you off like this?” Tyler asked.

“Not really,” Josh said. “Feels good, though. Feels..” Josh let out a shuddering sigh, rolling his hips, and Tyler felt that he was starting to become hard. “Feels _so_ good.”

 

Tyler craned his neck to kiss Josh again, stomach jolting as Josh moaned into his mouth. Letting out a soft whine, Tyler let go of Josh’s wings to reach down to his butt, gripping the soft flesh and pulling his hips down into a dirty grind.

 

“ _Mhmm,_ ” Josh moaned, pulling his lips away to press his face into Tyler’s neck. “What do you want, love?”

 

Tyler’s heart jolted this time at the pet name. He decided he liked it.

 

“’M not sure,” Tyler mumbled, hips rolling against Josh’s. “More of this. Kind of want... more than last time.”  
  
“Be specific, Ty,” Josh said. “Want me to suck you off? Want to fuck?”  
  
Tyler flushed. “God,” he said. “Um. Both?”  
  
Josh laughed. “Really? I mean, we don’t _have_ to fuck...”  
  


“No, I want to.” Tyler reached his hands back up, smoothing through Josh’s hair. “I really want to. With you.”

 

Tyler heard Josh swallow. “Um, okay. Wow. Um, how do you wanna do this?”  
  
Tyler blinked. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead. He’d kind of assumed Josh might want to fuck him, but he’d be lying if he hadn’t considered that the other way around would be good too.

 

“I was gonna leave it up to you,” Tyler admitted. “I’m good either way, I think.”

“Well, so am I,” Josh said sheepishly.

“Okay, well,” Tyler pondered. “To be fair, you’re the one who can actually see what you’re doing, so...”  
  
Josh laughed. “Want me to take charge?”  
  
“Yeah, it’s probably better than me fumbling around blindly.”

 

Josh smiled into his neck. “Okay, fair. We’ll go slow, though. You haven’t done anything like this yet, have you?”  
  
Tyler flushed. “Well, no,” he said. “Not with someone else. I’m no stranger to sticking things up my ass, though.”  
  
Josh laughed, whole body shaking with it. “Wow, Ty. Okay, I guess that’s a start. We’ll still take it slow, though.”

 

“Not too slow,” Tyler said, reaching back down to squeeze at the base of Josh’s wings again, eliciting a shuddering moan from him. He smirked; it was _so easy_ to get Josh hot and bothered.

Josh kissed him again hungrily, and pressed a trail of kisses down Tyler’s throat. He was less gentle this time; he sucked greedily at Tyler’s skin, and Tyler was fairly sure he’d leave marks in his wake.

 

“Not that I don’t love it, but I’m seeing my siblings tomorrow,” Tyler reminded him, and Josh chuckled. He kissed over the sore spots.

“Sorry,” he said. “Not sure what damage I’ve done already. Wear a collared shirt?”  
  
“I think I’ll have to,” Tyler grumbled, and Josh laughed, returning to kissing across his collarbones.

 

“Nobody’s gonna see this, though,” Josh said, tracing his hands across Tyler’s chest and torso.

“Go wild,” Tyler said, running his hands up to stroke Josh’s neck. “Please.”

Josh obliged, sucking and licking at Tyler’s skin, paying particular attention to his nipples. Tyler shuddered under Josh’s tongue, hips rolling restlessly as arousal burned through him with Josh’s ministrations.

Josh crawled lower, hands sliding down to pull Tyler’s boxers down his legs. His hands slid up his thighs as his lips brushed down Tyler’s stomach, and it was taking a lot for Tyler to keep his hips still.

A warm hand closed gently around Tyler’s cock, and he couldn’t suppress a moan, hips lifting slightly. He heard Josh chuckle, his lips still pressing soft kisses to Tyler’s thighs and hips while his hand stroked Tyler slowly.

Tyler heard a spitting sound, and cool saliva drizzled over his cock, reducing the friction of Josh’s dry hand.

And then soft lips closed around the tip of his cock, tongue massaging at the glans, and Tyler whimpered. 

 

“ _Fuck,_ ” he moaned, fighting to keep his hips from bucking. “Oh, god _._ Your _mouth_ , Josh.”  
  
Josh hummed contentedly, adding another sensation that had Tyler moaning and reaching his hands down to tangle in Josh’s hair.

He took his lips off Tyler’s cock with a pop, and Tyler felt Josh’s tongue lick slowly up his cock. He shuddered, hips rolling. Josh’s mouth felt maddeningly good, and it made Tyler’s head spin a little, to think he had Josh’s head between his thighs and pleasuring him with his tongue. Something about just the concept of it was ridiculously hot, and it helped that it felt even better than Tyler had imagined it could feel.

“Fuck, baby,” Tyler whimpered, words slipping out of his control. “ _So_ good.”

 

Tyler heard Josh make a surprised sound. “Say that again?”

 

Tyler laughed. “What, _‘baby’_? You like that?”  
  
Josh hummed happily in affirmation, affectionately kissing Tyler’s stomach. “I do. Please keep calling me that?”

 

“Shit, well, if you insist,” Tyler said. “I’m hardly gonna refuse you right now.”

Josh sighed contentedly. He closed his mouth around Tyler’s cock again and worked his lips down, the hot, wet heat of his mouth enveloping him. Tyler sucked in a shuddering breath. _Holy shit, that felt good._

Josh moaned pornographically as he slid back up, and Tyler wondered if he was hollowing his cheeks. He wished he could see him.

Josh began a rhythm, humming and moaning as he worked up and down, his hand stroking what he couldn’t reach.

Tyler moaned, throwing his head back into the pillow. He wanted Josh’s blowjob to never stop, and whimpered when Josh stopped and pulled away, his lips pulling from Tyler’s cock with a wet pop. Tyler gripped Josh’s hair futilely, frowning when Josh laughed and untangled Tyler’s fingers from his curls.

He massaged Tyler’s thighs. “Can’t let you come just yet,” he said teasingly, and Tyler was certain that he was smirking.

 

“Babe, please,” Tyler wheedled. “Need you.”

“I got you, don’t worry,” Josh said. Tyler heard him shifting, sliding off the bed. “Okay, I don’t know about condoms, but there might be lube somewhere...”

“Forget about condoms, I trust you,” Tyler said. “Besides, aren’t we married?”

 

Josh giggled. “Fair point,” he said, and Tyler felt the bed give under Josh’s weight as he climbed back onto it. “I’m not using spit for lube, though. Probably not the greatest idea.”

 

Josh’s hands slid under Tyler’s thighs, lifting them and pushing them up against Tyler’s chest. There was the sound of a cap popping, and moments later, cold, wet fingers were probing at Tyler’s thighs. He jumped, surprised by the cold lube.

 

“Sorry, it’ll warm up,” Josh said. His fingers explored down, stroking the swell of Tyler’s ass and delving inwards. Tyler flinched a little as Josh traced a fingertip over his asshole, massaging gently.

“You alright, love?” Josh asked softly. Tyler’s heart ached – Josh was being so _gentle_.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Tyler said. Josh hummed and pressed in with his finger, gently pushing past the ring of muscle and pushing in. Tyler shifted his hips, adjusting to the intrusion, and he gasped when Josh pushed deeper and curled his finger against his prostate.

 

“Yes, _god,_ right there,” Tyler whimpered, grabbing fistfuls of the sheets. “ _Aah,_ Josh...”

 

Tyler felt lips on his thighs, Josh littering them with kisses as he slowly rocked his finger, teasing Tyler’s prostate. He pressed another finger in tentatively, pushing it alongside the first.

“More, baby,” Tyler panted, rolling his hips down. “ _Please._ ”  
  


Josh waited to add a third finger, and then continued to stretch him out, languidly stroking Tyler’s cock with his other hand and craning over Tyler’s legs, catching Tyler’s panting mouth in a kiss.

 

“Do you – do you want me to touch you?” Tyler panted, pulling away to breathe.

 

“No need,” Josh said, pressing his forehead against Tyler’s neck. “I’m good to go. You’re so hot, _fuck._ ”

 

Tyler was in disbelief that Josh could be so aroused just from watching him, from giving him pleasure, but the proof was in Josh’s desperate kisses, the way his hips kept rolling against Tyler’s thigh as if he just couldn’t stop himself.

 

“You ready?” Josh asked, and Tyler answered with a moan, nodding furiously.

 

Josh removed his fingers, and Tyler whined, already missing them.

He heard the lube bottle’s cap pop again, and a soft moan as Josh slicked up his cock. Tyler waited, letting out a breath as he felt the tip of Jock’s cock teasing at his asshole, before pushing in.

Josh thrust slowly, groaning and taking hold of Tyler’s waist, his fingers digging in slightly.

Tyler rolled his head back, shutting his eyes and letting his mouth fall open as Josh rocked back slightly, before pushing further in.

His hips started to thrust properly, the stretch from Josh’s cock burning barely noticeably against the pleasure that rocked through Tyler’s body with it. He felt his back arch off the sheets as Josh thrust harder, hips bumping against his thighs, letting out a whimper.

Josh’s cock was a great deal bigger than any fingers or toys Tyler might have tried, but he felt his body adjusting. The increased pain wasn’t significant enough to take away from the pleasure, anyway, and Tyler’s mind was reeling with that.

 

“You’re so tight, _shit,_ ” Josh whimpered, curling over to bury his face in Tyler’s neck, kissing clumsily at his throat. He shifted his arms, letting go of Tyler’s waist to rest his forearms on either side of Tyler’s ribcage. “You okay? Worried you're too tight - don't wanna hurt you.”

 

“No, it’s good,” Tyler murmured, letting go of the sheets to pull his arms around Josh’s back. “S- _so_ good. Feels amazing, Josh.”

 

Josh hummed in response, unexpectedly nibbling at Tyler’s throat with his teeth.

Tyler cried out mostly out of surprise, fingers reflexively curling and digging his fingernails into Josh’s back. Josh groaned.

 

“That okay?” Josh asked, and Tyler nodded.

Josh tentatively nibbled his throat again – god, his teeth were _sharp_. Almost like tiny fangs. And the small jolts of pain they gave Tyler felt unexpectedly good, sending jolts into his stomach that got confused and mixed up with arousal.

 

“You okay with this?” Tyler asked, pressing his fingernails in again, and Josh moaned, nodding against his throat.

All of it was so unfamiliar for Tyler – the slapping sounds of their stomachs and Josh’s hips against Tyler’s thighs as their skin met with each thrust, Josh’s grunts and moans and pants, Tyler’s own noises as he failed to stop them passing his lips.

And it was all so _good_. Josh was all around him, and Tyler could guess that even his wings had stretched out on either side of them, surrounding them both in a safe little fort that was just _JoshJoshJosh._

Tyler almost felt upset when he realised he was close, because he didn’t want it to stop, he wanted to feel good forever, but Josh’s thrusts were growing sloppy, losing rhythm.

 

“I’m close,” Josh panted, pulling away and resting his forehead against Tyler’s. “T-think I’m...”

His voice broke off in a desperate moan, hips picking up intensity and slamming hard into Tyler’s thighs. He whimpered, shuddering through his orgasm. Tyler could just cling to him through it, gasping at the intense pace.

Josh’s hips stuttered to a halt, and he slumped over Tyler, trembling as he stilled.

 

“Hey,” Tyler murmured, stroking Josh’s face. “You come back, baby?”  
  
“Sort of,” Josh panted. Tyler felt him shift, felt Josh’s cock slide out of his ass. “Holy shit. Wow, Tyler.”

He nuzzled into Tyler’s hand, chest rumbling. “That was kind of incredible. You’re exquisite, you know that?”

Josh leaned down to kiss him deeply, hands sliding up to massage Tyler’s sides. “Lemme take care of you, love,” he murmured, pulling away and crawling down between Tyler’s legs to suck his cock into his mouth again.

 

Tyler whimpered, back arching. “ _Fuck,_ Josh. I’m –”

He barely lasted a few bobs of Josh’s head before he was coming with a cry, shuddering and gasping as Josh worked him through it, swallowing around his cock.

When he’d returned to earth, Josh was curled over him, pulling him close to his thrumming chest. Tyler leaned into it and shut his eyes, letting the vibrations lull him.

 

“Shit, I should clean up,” Tyler mumbled. “God. I have your cum in my ass, Josh.”

Josh laughed. “Hold on,” he said, pulling away and sliding off the bed. “Let me grab you a towel.”

Tyler heard the door open and close, and was left alone, blinking and breathing hard and incredibly satiated. His ass was starting to ache, but it was earned pain, he decided. The delicious relaxed sleepiness overtaking his limbs was worth it.

Josh returned with a damp towel, wiping it gently over Tyler’s asshole and slipping it under his buttocks, before settling next to Tyler, curling around him. Tyler rolled gingerly over, nuzzling into Josh’s chest, relaxing into his steady purring.

 

“That was _so_ good,” Tyler murmured sleepily. “Thanks, Josh. I’m definitely gonna be able to sleep tonight.”

Josh laughed, wrapping his arms around Tyler. “I’m glad. You were kind of amazing, by the way. I’m still not really recovered.”

Tyler giggled. “I tired you out? Good.”

 

“ _Mhmm,_ ” Josh sighed, kissing the top of Tyler’s head. “I could sleep a hundred years.”  
  
“Please don’t. I’d like to do that again within a century.”  
  
Josh laughed. “I’ll refrain from it.”

He sighed, resting his cheek against Tyler’s hair. “You’re so beautiful, you know that? You were gorgeous tonight.”  
  
“I wish I could say the same,” Tyler sighed. “I guess I’ll have to settle for saying you _felt_ amazing. You were so sweet, too, Josh. So gentle.”

“Just didn’t want to hurt you or rush you,” Josh mumbled. “Last thing I wanna do.”  
  
“Yeah, well, it was perfect,” Tyler said. “You were perfect.”

Josh smiled against his hair. “So were you.”  
He shifted, humming. “You should go to sleep, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

 

Tyler huffed. “True. Goodnight, Josh.”

“Goodnight. You sleep well, love.”

“Thanks, baby.” Tyler yawned, snuggling into Josh’s arms. “You sleep well, too.”

He pressed a kiss to Josh’s chest. “Um. _Love you._ ”

 

He heard Josh’s breath catch, and his arms tightened, purring intensifying. “ _Oh,_ Ty. Love you too.”

 

Tyler’s dreams were full of nothing but an overwhelming sense of love and security, floating comfortably in a cloud of warm joy, enveloping him like down feathers.

 

-

 

The next day found Tyler bouncing on the couch, a wreck of nerves and anticipation.

He was seeing his siblings today.

Jenna, Jesse, and Michael had left earlier, their forms dissolving into a collective flock of tiny birds in a mind-spinning transformation that made Tyler’s head reel. Then they’d flown out of the house, disappearing in the distance.

He was so nervous. He’d flipped through Josh’s whole wardrobe trying to find nice clothes, eventually settling onto Josh’s smallest jeans and a check short-sleeved button-up (with a collar – Josh hadn’t done too much damage, but there was definitely damage if you looked hard enough) that was evidently designed to be fitted, but hung off Tyler’s shoulders.

And now he was sitting on the couch, agitatedly shifting from side to side, crossing his legs, uncrossing them, curling them up on the couch, setting his feet back on the floor.

His hands weren’t much better, twitching from a clasped position in his lap to fiddling with the shirt’s buttons, to tugging at his hair. Tyler just couldn’t sit still.

 

“Would you relax?” Mark muttered from where he was sitting on the other couch, a Nintendo DS in his hands. “You’re seeing your brothers and sister, not waiting for a job interview.”

“I can’t help it! It might help if I knew when they were getting here,” Tyler said.

Mark sighed. “I’d tell you if I could, but there’s no way to know,” he said. “First, the others have to find your siblings, and who knows where they are, what they’re up to. That could take a few minutes or a few hours, depending on if they’ve made it easy to figure out their locations. And then from there it’ll take maybe fifteen minutes to get them up here.”

 

“So this could take half an hour, or it could take all day,” Tyler said. Mark nodded. Tyler groaned.

 

“This is the worst,” Tyler complained, standing up. “I can’t do this. I can’t wait around all day!”  
  
“What are you so worried about, anyway?” Mark said. “They’re your family. They’ll be happy to see you.”  
  
“They might be angry,” Tyler said. His anxieties from the night before had come back with a vengeance over the morning, without Josh there to soothe them. “I mean, what will they think of all this? They might be mad I didn’t try to contact them earlier.”

Mark sighed. “That’s hardly your fault,” he said. “I mean, you were kind of distracted. With thinking you were gonna die, and all.”  
  
“Yeah, but I _didn’t_ die,” Tyler said. “And I’m okay. I’m not afraid, or in pain, or whatever. And this whole time, I didn’t think to even ask if it was possible for me to contact them to tell them that.”

 

Mark stood up, walking over to Tyler and rubbing his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry,” he said. “I think, if they were really worried, they’ll probably be more relieved just to see you than anything else. They might be a little mad, but for the most part they’ll just be so glad to know you’re okay. Any anger on their part would just be, like, an extension of their relief at seeing you.”  
  
Tyler sighed. “Still feel guilty, though,” he said. “I should have thought to ask earlier. I _should_ have.”

 

“Well, you didn’t,” Mark said. “And there’s nothing you can do about it now, except let that go and deal with whatever comes. Focus on making it up to them, I guess.”  
  
“Yeah.”   
The nerves in Tyler’s stomach hadn’t really settled, but he smiled gratefully at Mark. “Thanks.”  
  
“No problem. Now sit down and _quit fidgeting_.”

 

In the end, it only took about an hour. Tyler nearly leapt off the couch when he heard rustling wings, and footsteps.

He turned around to see the others hovering around the windows still in bird-form, and standing in the doorway, three gloriously familiar faces.

 

Jay pushed through the doorway, and before Tyler could even speak or apologise, his youngest brother was gathering him up in a bone-crushing hug.

Tyler blinked, fighting to swallow the lump in his throat. He hadn’t realised how _much_ he’d missed them until now. Breathing in the familiar scent of his brother’s awful Axe deodorant felt so much like home, and all at once he didn’t want them to leave, already missing them just as they’d arrived.

 

Jay let go, furiously rubbing at his eyes. “Hey, dude,” he said in a weirdly thick voice, and Tyler laughed. “Hey, lil bro.”  
  
“Tyler! Come here!”  
  
Tyler turned to see Maddy marching towards him, throwing her arms around him in an equally tight hug. She was shaking slightly, and pulled back to give him a furious look.

 

“How _could_ you!” she said shrilly. “All this time – and we were so worried -”

Guilt gnawed at Tyler’s stomach. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I would have contacted you so much sooner if I’d known I’d be able to. I would have, I promise.”

“Hey, shut up.” Zack pushed past Maddy, eyes oddly shiny. “We’re just so glad you’re alive.”

 

He pulled Tyler into a tight hug, before pulling away to inspect him. His eyes were concerned, and Tyler realised Zack was checking for signs of distress or abuse.  
He looked up, obviously satisfied. “Nice threads, dude,” he laughed.

 

Tyler flushed. “They’re not mine,” he admitted. “I’ve been borrowing clothes since I got here.”  
  
“In this place?” Zack looked around incredulously. “I find it hard to believe they set all this up for you, but not some clothes.”  
  
“Well, it’s not _for_ me,” Tyler said. “This – it’s not my place, it’s..”

  
  
“It’s ours,” Mark said, standing up. “I’m one of the people who live here, there’s a few of us. Hi.”

“Hi,” Zack said, squinting at Mark suspiciously. He glanced back at Tyler. “Is he.. is this your..?”  
  
Tyler blinked. “Oh. Oh! No, no way. Not Mark.”

 

“I’m just a housemate,” Mark said with a grin.

“Oh,” Zack said, looking him up and down curiously.

 

“So... what is this place?” Maddy asked. “Where are we?”  
  
“I can’t tell you exactly, but we’re in the domain of one of the gods,” Mark explained. “The rest of us, we’re servants, I guess? And this is where we live.”  
  
“Oh,” Maddy said. She looked at Tyler. “So your.. the monster...”  
  
“He’s, uh, he’s not exactly a monster,” Tyler said. “I don’t think. But he’s really nice. His name’s Josh.”  
  
“Oh, you’ve met him!” Maddy exclaimed. “What’s he like?”

“Funny, I guess,” Tyler said, shrugging. “Really sweet.”  
  
“What does he look like?” Jay asked. “Is he all pincers, and stuff?”  
  
“Uh, well,” Tyler said, scratching his head. “No pincers, but he’s.. I’m not sure. I haven’t actually seen him yet.”  
  
“What do you mean, you haven’t seen him?” Zack asked, squinting suspiciously.

 

Tyler shrugged. “I only see him at night,” he said. “When it’s too dark to actually see him. He seems pretty human, though. Two arms, two legs, and a singular head.”

“But you haven’t seen him,” Zack said, and Tyler shook his head. Zack frowned.

 

Mark coughed nervously. “Uh, do you want us to show you around?” he asked. “I bet you wanna check this place out.”  
  


The tour went well – Tyler’s siblings were particularly enamoured with the basketball court, and Jay even demanded a quick half-court game.   
Tyler couldn’t refuse. It’d been too long since he’d last shot hoops with his siblings, and it was incredibly nice to just do something fun with them, something familiar.

Afterwards, when Mark had left them alone and Tyler was pouring cereal while they recovered in the kitchen, Zack cleared his throat.

 

“I’m sorry if this is a weird question,” he asked, “But, uh. How, um, far? Have you gotten with Josh?”  
  
Maddy winced, and Jay straight-up choked on his cereal, scowling and covering his ears. “This is literally the last thing I wanna know about,” he grumbled.

 

Tyler flushed, clutching the box of cereal.

 

Zack made a face. “Nevermind, that basically answers my question,” he said. “Okay. So you’re certain he’s, like, human-ish?”  
  
“Well, yeah, I guess,” Tyler said. “I mean, there’s not a lot of him that isn’t.”  
  
“What isn’t?”

 

“He’s, uh, got wings?” Tyler said. “Like a bird. Kind of sharp teeth. And, uh, he purrs.”  
  
Jay snorted. “Like a cat?”  
  
“Yeah,” Tyler said, flushing. “Anyway, those are the only things I know of that aren’t human, but in every other way, yeah. About as human as you get.”

 

“He doesn’t have, like, weird habits or needs, or something?” Zack asked. “Like, he eats normal food?”  
  
Tyler blinked. “He likes tacos?” he said, shrugging.

 

Maddy sighed. “I think you can let up with the interrogation now, Zack,” she said.

 

“What? Don’t you want to know?” Zack exclaimed. “Aren’t you, like, in any way concerned about who our brother might be _sleeping_ with? He doesn’t even know what he looks like!”

“Zack..” Maddy mumbled halfheartedly.

 

“Do you even know what he does all day?” Zack demanded. “Where he goes? What god is even in charge of everyone here? Do you know for sure that he doesn’t eat people?”  
  
“I told you, he eats normal stuff!” Tyler said, shaking the cereal box.

“How do you know that? Have you seen him eat? Or has he just _told_ you he likes cereal and Taco Bell?” Zack snapped.

“Zack, that’s enough,” Maddy said.

“No, Maddy, I’m not done,” Zack said. “I’m fucking scared. I’m scared all of this is just to, I don’t know, sweeten Tyler up. Get him all comfortable and happy and settled, so he doesn’t _struggle too much_ when the monster eventually _kills_ him.”

 

“Zack, stop,” Maddy snapped. “You’re scaring him.”  
  
Zack looked up, and Tyler saw guilt in his brother’s eyes. He didn’t know how he looked, but he knew his hands were trembling.

 

“I’m sorry,” Zack mumbled, looking down. “I’m just... I’m worried. I could be overreacting, I know, but... I just want to know for sure that you’re actually safe here. I wish you at least knew what he _looked_ like, anyway.”

 

“Yeah, well, I don’t know that they would have let us visit if he wasn’t safe,” Maddy said. “Just... let’s be happy, okay? Let’s not spend this time arguing with each other. Let’s not waste it.”  
  
“Yeah,” Zack mumbled, not looking up.

 

Jay cleared his throat, looking around.

“Oh, hey, dude,” he piped up. “You got a PS3? Sweet. What games have you got?”

 

Tyler swallowed hard, putting the cereal down. “Um, I haven’t taken a good look yet, just played what the others have had on. Let’s check it out.”

 

Zack didn’t bring up Josh again, and the rest of the afternoon saw the four siblings hanging out, catching up, and talking about anything and everything that wasn’t Josh or Tyler’s relationship with him.

But Zack’s words still gnawed at Tyler’s stomach, a mess of anxiety and doubt crawling inside and building a home between his ribs.

Zack wasn’t wrong. There was so much that Tyler didn’t know about Josh. And no, he didn’t know what Josh ate, what Josh did.

The idea of his soft, sweet husband with blood around his mouth made Tyler’s skin crawl. And yet he couldn’t prove that it was something that had never, or could never, happen.

Zack was right in the sense that Tyler still wasn’t really sure if he was out of danger.

And that sense of doubt and fear lingered long in Tyler’s mind, even after his siblings were escorted out of the mansion.

 

Along with the pang of farewells, Tyler was left with a growing sense of dread, and Zack’s words ringing in his head.

 

“ _Get him all comfortable and happy and settled, so he doesn’t struggle too much when the monster eventually kills him.”_

“ _I wish you at least knew what he looked like, anyway.”_

 

How could Tyler know that Josh wasn’t truly a monster?  
How could Tyler know that he was actually safe?

 

There was only one way to find out.

 


	8. I'd die for you, that's easy to say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what a right royal mess.

That night, Tyler slipped into the bedroom and hid a couple of things under the bed.

 

It was clear that electronics just stopped functioning in the room at night, so he was going to have to resort to older-fashioned lighting methods for his plan to work.

He hadn’t found any candles in the house, oddly – Jenna and Jesse at least had seemed like ambient-scented-candle types of people, but apparently not – but he had found an old oil lamp and some matches in the basement. After some googling and experimenting, he figured out how to light it, and so he brought it and the matches up to the room and slid them under the bed.

The other object was a sharp knife purloined from the kitchen drawer.

Shame gnawed at his stomach that he was even considering it, but Tyler knew he was better off safe than sorry – if Josh turned out to be a monster in disguise all along, he wanted to be prepared to defend himself.

He wouldn’t use it unless he had to, he told himself. He’d only use it if Josh woke up and attacked him. If Josh slept through Tyler lighting the lamp, then Tyler would only use the knife if Josh ever attacked him in future.

 

Objects planted, Tyler crawled into bed and waited, heart pounding.

 

It didn’t take Josh long to come back.

 

“Hey, love,” Josh breathed as he climbed into the bed, arms snaking around Tyler.

Tyler couldn’t stop himself tensing up, and Josh froze.

“Everything alright, Ty?” he asked.

 

Tyler nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

“You sure?”  
  
“I’m sure. You’re just cold.”  
  
Josh snorted. “Okay, fair. How was it seeing your siblings?”  
  
“Oh!” Nerves fluttered in Tyler’s stomach. “It was really nice, actually. I was scared they were gonna be mad at me for not letting them know I was alright sooner, but in the end they were just... really happy to see me, I guess. And I was happy to see them. It was nice, I missed them.”  
  
“I’m glad,” Josh murmured. “We should have them up again soon. Although, you wanted your parents up after your siblings, didn’t you?”  
  
“I did,” Tyler said. “I’d like for them to come visit.”  
  
“We’ll have to bring them up soon, then.”  
Josh sighed. “I wish I could meet your parents,” he said wistfully.

 

Tyler laughed, despite himself. “They probably want to meet you. Make sure you’re not some loser who doesn’t shower or help with the cooking.”  
  
“Well, thats fair. I do shower, at least.”

 

They talked a little more, cuddled a little more. The whole time, Tyler tried not to be jumpy, tried not to flinch when Josh touched him, tried to act normal. And Josh wasn’t having any of it.

 

“Tyler,” Josh said, voice full of concern. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been kinda on edge all night. You still haven’t really relaxed.”

 

Tyler tried to shrug. “I’m just tired, I think,” he said. “I guess... my siblings and I talked about a lot of stuff today, and it just gave me a lot to think about.”  
  
Josh shifted. “They didn’t upset you, did they?”  
  
Tyler laughed. “No, no,” he said. “I don’t know. I’ve just... missed a lot, I think.”  
  
“That’s fair,” Josh said softly. “I guess that’s... gosh. I shouldn’t be surprised you’d miss them. I’m sorry, Ty.”  
  
“It’s okay,” Tyler said. He couldn’t stop himself rolling over to snuggle into Josh, wishing, hoping, _praying_ that he was the person he’d fallen in love with. His purring monster.

“Go to sleep, yeah? You must be so tired.”  
  
“So must you, I think you’ve arguably had a bigger day,” Josh snorted, but he settled down into the blankets with a sigh, pulling his arms gently around Tyler. “Goodnight, love.”  
  
“Goodnight, Josh.”

 

Guilt kept Tyler awake long after Josh’s purring had melted into snoring, long after Tyler decided that Josh had fallen asleep deeply enough that light was unlikely to wake him.

Tyler just had to be really, really careful.

He slid out of Josh’s arms, freezing at every sigh or murmur or other sign that Josh might wake up. He crept out of bed, and reached under the bed, dragging out the oil lamp, matches and knife carefully.

He struck a match, heart in his mouth at the hissing sound it made as it lit, but Josh didn’t make a sound. He carefully lit the lamp and, heart thumping through his whole body, he raised the lamp and looked over the bed.

 

Tyler saw an arm, a mass of fluffy curls. Soft forms and shapes in the dim light, making up a muscular upper body.

He blinked, stood up. Hovered over Josh, holding the lamp close to try and see him better, see his face.

 

He swallowed hard.

Josh was _beautiful_.

 

Josh wasn’t monstrous at all; he had an angular face with delicate pink lips and freckles scattered over light skin. The hair curling over his forehead was a similar pink, setting off rosy cheeks in the flame’s glow. His whole face was pleasant, sculptural curves and diamond shapes that had been hinted at when Tyler had run his hands over them, but couldn’t truly fit together in his mind until he could see Josh’s face with his own eyes.

Tyler looked down at Josh’s body, mouth falling open – he _did_ have tattoos. A whole universe took up his right arm, with a galaxy at his shoulder, a tree stretching down his arm, roots and green at his wrist. Colours stretched out around the tree – orange sky, blue water. The rest of his skin was taken up with more freckles, scattered in various densities like nebulous galaxies across his skin.

His hands were pale, delicately blue-veined, with pink knuckles and fingertips. His index fingernail was blackened, like he’d hit it on something. Small red marks, bruises and scrapes littered his hands, tiny wear marks that indicated that he used his hands frequently.

The wings were real, too – great white plumes of feathers stretched down behind his shoulders, quivering slightly as he slept. They were mesmerisingly beautiful, and Tyler was horrified to find tears welling up in his eyes at the sight of them.

 

Josh wasn’t a monster, not by a long shot. Tyler’s monster was angelic.

 

Heart aching – how could he have ever doubted him?! – Tyler decided to have one last look before blowing the lamp out.

He noticed another tattoo on the inside of his other arm – a love heart with “Mom” written inside, and an arrow through the heart.

He chuckled softly; it was unexpectedly cute detail. Tyler wondered if he was ever going to stop finding things to love about Josh.

 

And – hold on, wait.

Tyler squinted at the arrow through the heart.

_The arrow through the heart._

 

He looked at Josh again, looked at his wings. Looked at the heart tattoo.

He glanced around the room, and his eyes alighted on something that Josh had brought in, something Tyler never saw him bring in.

 

A quiver full of arrows, and a bow.

 

Tyler’s eyes widened, and he felt his hands begin to shake.

 

He knew what Josh was.

 

He made to move back, but tilted his hand too much, and in a moment that stretched out horrifically as he watched it, a stream of burning hot oil spilled out of the lamp, straight onto Josh’s bare chest.

Josh awoke with a yelp, eyes snapping open – breathtaking molten pools of deep brown, large like a doll’s eyes – and he cried out again when he saw the light, saw Tyler staring at him in horror.

His beautiful face twisted into a mask of sheer panic. “Tyler, what did you do?!” he howled, and as he curled over his wound and reached out to Tyler with one arm, his hand began to dissolve.

Tyler cried out in alarm, watching in horror as Josh simply disappeared in front of him. The last thing he saw was Josh’s face, frozen in fear, before it disintegrated into thin air.

His heart thudded with panic. Where did Josh go? Had he killed him? An image of the reddening, blistering burn spreading across half of Josh’s chest flashed in Tyler’s mind. _What had he done?_

 

An ugly crack resounded throughout the house, and Tyler froze.

Cries and shouts echoed in the house as another crack echoed, followed by a screeching crash. Tyler realised the walls were shuddering.

 

The door slammed open, and Tyler looked over to Mark, who was wearing a t-shirt and boxers and staring at him with a look of horror and fury. Inky black wings were folded behind his back, Tyler realised with a thrill of awe. “Tyler, we need to get out!” he yelled, running into the room and grabbing his hand. “We need to go, now!”  
  
“What’s happening?!” Tyler cried, but Mark didn’t answer, dragging him out through the corridor. A massive, gaping crack split the corridor, and Mark jumped over it.

 

“Tyler, come on!” he snapped, and Tyler gulped, hopping over the yawning crevice.

 

Mark dragged him through the kitchen, past more cracks splitting the house’s bones, splinters of the star-filled sky visible through the ruptures.

 

He pulled him out of the house, pulling Tyler into a tight bear-hug and taking off.

Behind them, Tyler watched the mansion collapse into the ground, splintering and disintegrating until it was as if it had never been there at all.

Mark carried him all the way down to the mortal world, where he set Tyler down in a thicket of trees near a highway. Tyler looked around, and saw the others had flown down as well. They all had wings too, he realised. Each person had a different, unique set of wings.

 

 _Each Erote,_ Tyler corrected himself.

 

That was what Josh had been.

That was what they’d been hiding all along.

 

_They were Erotes._

 

Tyler’s monster wasn’t a monster – he was a winged deity who controlled mortal love, who decided which mortals fell in love with each other.

And for some reason, he’d never been allowed to find that out.

Tyler had a horrible reason that his finding out had something to do with Josh’s disappearance, and with the collapse of the house, and with why the Erotes were standing around him in a circle, looking furious.

 

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Mark demanded. Tyler blinked at him.

 

“Not so much,” Tyler admitted. “Not the extent of it, anyway. But I think I might have fucked up.”  
  
“That’s one way to put it!” Mark snapped. “Shit, that’s an _understatement_ of what you did. ‘Fucking up’ is putting it _lightly_.”

 

“Where’s Josh?” Jesse asked in a nervous voice. “What happened to him?”  
  
“He’s probably with Blurry,” Mark growled. “Blurry would have summoned him the second he realised who Tyler was in love with.”

 

“Wait, wait, Blurry?” Tyler asked. “Who’s Blurry?”  
  
“He’s the _god of love,_ ” Mark said. “He’s what _you_ still call Aphrodite.”

 

Tyler blinked. “Aphrodite’s a dude called Blurry?”  
  
“Yeah, well,” Mark muttered. “This god’s been through a lot of changes. A lot of stuff happened that made Aphrodite super bitter, unhappy with the state of love in the world, with how mortals love. And... that caused some drastic stuff to change. We haven’t really gotten around to updating the temples yet, but... yeah. Blurry hasn’t been Aphrodite for a really long time.”

 

“Okay, well, hold up,” Tyler said. “The thing is, I know something really bad happened, and it’s kind of my fault. But I don’t actually know what I’ve done wrong, exactly.”

 

Mark sucked in a furious breath, but Jenna gently took his arm. “Mark, he doesn’t know,” she said softly. “That’s how all this happened. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t understand.”

 

Mark shut his eyes and sighed. He sat down in the grass next to Tyler, kneading his hands agitatedly. The other Erotes sank down around them, faces grim.

 

“Okay, well,” he mumbled. “This is gonna take some time to explain.”

 

Mark told him everything. How the Erotes were forbidden from love, how the god of love had the ability to look into an individual’s heart and know whether they were in love, and who they were in love with. How he had taken offense at Tyler’s music, knowing that Tyler had never experienced love to begin with.   
How Josh had been supposed to ruin his life – set him up with some awful partner who’d restrict him from writing and make him miserable.

How Josh had been unable to bring himself to do that, and had fallen in love instead. Something that was incredibly rare, an anomaly – since the day Blurry forbade them from love, Josh should never have been _able_ to fall in love. And yet, he had.

How Josh had decided to try to save Tyler from his miserable fate, how that had somehow worked out with the vision Father Ambrose had.

How, every minute of every day, the Erotes had tried to keep their and Josh’s true identities a secret, hiding their wings, hiding Josh’s appearance, even restricting Tyler to the house in case Tyler wandered far enough to find Blurry’s mansion. Because if Tyler put two and two together and figured out that he was in love with an Erote, then Blurry would know too. And if Blurry knew, then the whole gig was over.

How, despite all this, the Erotes had decided to take a shot anyway. Because love for at least one of their group was worth it. Because Josh thought Tyler was worth it. Because Josh trusted Tyler.

 

And Tyler had fucked it all up.

 

His chest hurt. All he’d wanted was to just dispel his doubts, and instead he’d thrown a lead anchor into a finely balanced scale, and worse, broken Josh’s trust. His mind returned to the look on Josh’s face when he’d woken up, disoriented and in pain and _betrayed_ , and Tyler wanted to cry.

 

Mark fell silent, and Tyler hid his face in his hands. _Shit_. He’d fucked up so bad, and now they didn’t even know if Josh was okay.

 

“Are you okay?” Michael asked softly.

 

Tyler blinked, rubbing away tears. “Um,” he mumbled. “My parents have spare beds. Maybe we can go stay with them?”  
  
“We don’t have to intrude on them, we can easily stay at a hotel -” Jenna said.  
  
“No,” Jesse said. “I think it’d be nice to stay at Tyler’s parents’ place, actually. Right, Tyler?”  
  
Tyler nodded. “I just – really want to see them,” he admitted, talking quickly before he could break down fully.

 

Mark nodded. “Tyler’s parents’ place it is,” he said.

 

Tyler barely took notice of the trip to his house, and forgot it completely when they rang the doorbell.

He heard his mom grumbling about people calling in late at night, and the door opened with her standing in the doorway in a dressing gown, looking half asleep and grouchy.

 

She stared at Tyler.

 

She screamed.

 

Tyler’s dad came running with a baseball bat.

 

Tyler’s mom whacked his dad with her hand and scolded him for threatening to beat up their own son, before bursting into tears and pulling Tyler into the doorway for a bone-crushing hug.

 

In the end, it turned out that Tyler’s parents were perfectly happy to accept the Erotes inside.

“You’ll have to take couches, the kids have all been staying here the past couple nights,” Kelly said, wringing her hands. “Otherwise we’d have plenty of room, but..”  
  
“It’s no problem at all,” Michael said, beaming at her. “We can handle couches, right guys?”

 

In the end, the Erotes were set up with spare blankets and pillows on the couches, while Tyler’s siblings crept out of their rooms and followed Tyler’s parents into the basement, where Tyler was setting up the old spare bed.

 

Tyler explained everything to them, repeating what Mark had said. His mom cried, again.

And Zack had stared at the floor, stony-faced, until Tyler finished. Then he pulled him into a hug.

 

“I’m so sorry,” Zack said. “I shouldn’t have – I had no idea. I would never have said anything if I thought even just looking at him would mess everything up so bad...”

 

“It’s okay,” Tyler said. “You didn’t know.”  
  
“It’s _not_ okay,” Zack said. “I was – shit, I was kind of jealous, even. That after everything, you ended up kind of sitting in the lap of luxury, living it up while we were stuck here grieving you, thinking we’d lost you forever. And it all just seemed too good to be true. I knew something was up. I knew Mark was being shady. But I didn’t realise it was like _this_. And I didn’t want you to _lose_ everything...”

 

He rubbed furiously at his eyes. “I didn’t want this, I just wanted you to be careful. I’d never have said anything if I knew it meant you would lose all of it.”

 

Tyler said nothing, just hugging Zack silently.

 

His family eventually left, and Tyler curled up on the spare bed.

 

He didn’t fall asleep for hours that night.

 

He thought about what Mark had said. If Blurry had found out, and summoned Josh, then that meant that if Tyler wanted Josh back, he’d have to go to Blurry.

That was their next move, then, Tyler decided.  
They’d go to the god of love, find Josh. Take Josh back and everything would go back to normal. Sort of. Maybe.

 

Easy, right?  
  
Tyler curled up in the bed, cold and missing his beautiful monster’s warm arms and rumbly chest, and despaired.

 

His dreams were full of hot, burning lights and pained howls, feathers dipped in hot tar.

 

-

 

The next day saw Tyler explain his idea to everyone over breakfast.

It had been an interesting challenge to fit everyone in the kitchen; between the Erotes, Tyler’s siblings and their partners, and Tyler and his parents, the whole group couldn’t fit around the table. In the end, the Erotes stood around the table holding their plates, or in Mark and Jesse’s case, ate off the kitchen counter.

Tyler’s mom had managed gracefully, though. With help from Jesse, she’d managed to cook a hot breakfast for all of the thirteen people in the house, insisting that cereal alone wouldn’t be enough to clear the dark circles from under Tyler’s and the Erotes’ eyes.

 

“So, um,” Tyler said, glancing over to Mark. “I had an idea.”  
  
Mark squinted at him suspiciously. “Last time you had a great idea, our house crumbled to the ground,” he said. “Run this one by us first this time.”

 

“Well,” Tyler said, “Blurry has Josh, right? So we go visit Blurry. Talk to him, reason with him, and get Josh back.”  
  
Michael choked on his bacon. Mark stared at Tyler as if he’d suggested going to pick a fight with a hydra.

 

“Tyler,” Mark said, “You don’t _reason_ with Blurry. You grovel. You beg. You don’t negotiate with him. You take what he gives you, and then thank him for it.”

 

“Fine, okay, whatever,” Tyler said. “I’m prepared to grovel. So we go see Blurry and grovel.”  
  
Mark sighed. “It’s.. Tyler, it’s not gonna be that easy,” he said sheepishly. “Blurry’s not going to just give you Josh back if you cry hard enough. He’s not that kind of guy.”

 

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Tyler asked. “Right now, I don’t see any other options.”  
  
Mark sighed. “Okay, fine,” he said. “We’ll try to talk to Blurry. See how it goes. But don’t get your hopes up, Tyler. He’s not going to make it easy for you.”

 

“Well, I’m glad we started with bacon, then,” Jesse said. “We’re gonna need all the protein we can get if we’re off to deal with Blurry today.”

 

The trip back to the god’s domain was uneventful, but Tyler could sense the tension in the other Erotes. Flying up was going to be the easy part, he realised.

They approached the mansion, and Tyler’s jaw dropped.

Blurry’s home was huge. It made the Erotes’ mansion look like a country cottage by comparison. Marble sculptures depicting Aphrodite and childlike Erotes were set into the columns lining the entrance, and Tyler understood why he hadn’t been allowed to leave the house, why the Erotes hadn’t even wanted to risk him accidentally wander across the mansion.

They entered the mansion and walked into a huge marble space, reminiscent of a hotel lobby, or maybe a palace court.

At the end of the space, a lone figure stood in front of a massive, monolithic sculpture of Aphrodite. Tyler swallowed.

 

The figure was human-sized, and at first no more remarkable than the Erotes. Less so, nearly, as he didn’t even have wings.

But as they approached, Tyler saw the figure had black hands, the dark stains crawling up his arms and dissolving into pale skin. Similar black covered his neck, and when the figure turned to face them, Tyler saw he had red, glowing eyes.

 

Tyler swallowed.  
He didn’t look much like a love god, but he did look like a god he didn’t want to piss off. And of course, Tyler had already pissed him off months ago. _Of course._

 

Mark cleared his throat as they drew close. “Hi, Blurry,” he said.

 

Blurry smirked unpleasantly. “Didn’t think you would show up,” he said. “I’m surprised.”  
  
“Yeah, well, here we are,” Mark said nervously. “We, um. We wanted to talk with you.”  
  
“Do you?” Blurry asked. “To be honest, I don’t think you’re the people I want to talk to right now.”  
  
He waved a hand, and Mark stiffened. His form began to change – like the bird flock trick, but this was different.

Tyler looked around to see the same change was occurring in the other Erotes. They were disintegrating into small black shards, falling to the floor, the shards crumbling and falling apart until the black specks began to crawl.

 

Tyler stared in horror at the floor. Blurry had turned the Erotes into swarms of ants.

 

Blurry turned to him with a smile. “I think you’re the person I need to talk to right now,” he said pleasantly.

 

Tyler swallowed.

What god had he managed to piss off?

 

“Watch you don’t step on them, it could be an arm or a leg you’ll end up crushing,” Blurry said airily. “They could probably do with a bit of pain, though, to be honest. That’s what they get for working against me.”  
  
This was the Erotes’ punishment for going behind Blurry’s back? Tyler gulped. What punishment did Blurry have in store for him, then?

And how had he punished Josh for disobeying him? Tyler shuddered.

 

“So, you’re the kid who’s been making my life a mess these past few months,” Blurry said, smile twisting into a scowl. “You’ve been the one leading my subordinates astray, distracting them, messing everything up. You don’t have any idea of the damage you’ve been doing, have you?”  
  
“N-not really,” Tyler said, glancing back down at the ground. He didn’t want to get turned into a swarm of ants. “As far as I know, I’ve just been trying to do my own thing. I didn’t mean to piss anyone off.”

 

“Yeah, well, you messed that one up,” Blurry growled. “So, what do you want? I bet I can guess.”  
  
Tyler took a shaky breath. “I want Josh back,” he said. “I want to see him. I need to see if he’s okay.”  
  
Blurry barked out a laugh. “That’s rich,” he snorted. “You want him back, after the mess you made? I know what they tried to do, that they kept it all from me. I know that you screwed it all up. All because you just couldn’t do what you were told.”

 

Tyler swallowed hard.

 

“You want to know the most important facet of any relationship?” Blurry asked. “Trust. It’s always trust. If there’s no mutual trust, what’s the point? And you refused to trust Josh, and in doing so, broke his trust. What makes you think he even wants to see you, after what you did?”

 

Tyler gritted his teeth. “I – if he doesn’t want to see me, that’s fine,” he said thickly. “I just need to know he’s okay.”  
  
Blurry laughed. “You wanna know how he is?” he asked. “He’s not okay. He’s got a massive third degree burn across his chest, and you know full well how he got _that_. So I’m stuck wasting energy and resources keeping his dumb ass alive, all because of you.”  
  
Tyler flinched. “He – he could die?”  
  
“Yeah, it’s about that bad,” Blurry snorted. “He’s lucky he’s not a mortal. Unlike you.”

 

Tyler gulped. “I need to fix this,” he said shakily. “I need – I want to make things better. Set things straight with you. How can I do that? How can I appease you?”  
  
Blurry blinked. “You actually want to make it up to me?”  
  
Tyler nodded. “I want to do whatever it takes to get the others back in your favour as well. And if Josh will have me back, I want that. What can I do to get that?”  
  
Blurry laughed. “There’s nothing,” he said. “There’s literally nothing. This isn’t the sort of problem you fix with flowers, or an apology note, or something. What are you gonna do to make it up to me? Nurse Josh to health? Promise to never doubt him or mistrust him again? You can’t do that.”  
  
Tyler clenched his fists. “There has to be something. Give me something.”  
  
“Alright, you want to do something? Fine,” Blurry snapped. “Three impossible tasks. You’ll either fail them, or die trying to complete them. Complete them, and you can have it all back – Josh, the mansion, the Erotes. Everything.”  
  


Tyler’s mouth fell open. “That’s hardly fair!” he said. “If they’re impossible for me to do, then – you can’t do that!”  
  
“You said you wanted to do something,” Blurry said. “And besides, why shouldn’t they be impossible? It’ll be impossible for you, as a mortal, to love Josh truly and eternally as he, as a divine being, needs. And yet you want to try to do that anyway. So why not try these as well?”  
  
Tyler sighed, clenching his fists again. “Fine.” He didn’t have a choice. “I’ll do them.”  
  
Blurry smirked. “That’s the spirit,” he said. “Now. I have to get going, there’s some party going on at Olympus and I’ve got to show my face, play nice. When I come back, your first task had better be completed, or the whole gig is up.”

 

“W-what task?” Tyler asked. “You haven’t told any of them to me yet.”  
  
“You’ll find out,” Blurry said. He snapped his fingers, and three large terracotta urns materialised around him. He smirked, and hauled each of them over, tipping each one onto the floor with a crash.

As each urn fell to the floor, a different type of grain poured out – barley from one, sesame seeds from another, and poppy seeds from the third.  
Each of the urns’ contents poured out and mixed together, forming a pile on the floor.

 

“Your first task,” Blurry said, “Is to separate the grains. I want three piles organised by the time I come back, and if there’s a single poppy seed in the barley pile, or vice versa, I’ll count the task as failed. If you haven’t finished by the time I come back, you’ve failed.”  
  
“What – but – I don’t even know when you’re gonna be back!” Tyler cried out, head reeling, staring at the pile.

 

Blurry snorted. “They’re called impossible tasks for a reason,” he said. “I’ll give you a bonus, though, since you’re being a good sport. I’m usually out all night at these Olympus parties, I shouldn’t be back before sunrise. Who knows, I might even make special effort to stay out after dawn, give you some extra penalty time.”  
  
Tyler nodded. “Okay,” he said nervously. “Tomorrow morning. Got it.”  
  
Blurry smirked. “Good luck, kiddo,” he said. “You’re gonna need it. And even that won’t be enough to help you.”

 

Still smiling, Blurry disappeared, form melting and disintegrating like a plume of smoke.

Tyler shuddered.

He sat down on the floor, staring at the pile.

 

“I can’t do this,” he whispered. “There’s no way. I’d need a week to do this, not a night.”

 

Regardless, he sighed, leaning over the pile. He couldn’t possibly do it, but he had to try. “Alright,” he mumbled. “Here we go.”  
  


Getting started ended up being easy – Tyler found himself settling into a rhythm, sliding a seed into each pile on a sort of rotation. Every now and then he’d double-check the pile, make sure he hadn’t accidentally slipped the wrong grain into the wrong pile, but for the most part his routine was working.

The work quickly became tiring, though. After a couple of hours, Tyler’s back and neck ached from crouching over the piles, and his eyes were beginning to blur. He looked up at the still-huge mixed pile, and his heart sank – he’d hardly made a dent.

 

He took a deep breath, and threw himself back into sorting.

 

Another two hours passed, and Tyler’s whole body ached. He was struggling not to fall asleep now, and the pile still loomed.

The day wore on, and disappeared into night. Tyler was halfway through his time limit, assuming Blurry wasn’t going to come back early, and he’d still only sorted about an eighth of the pile.

He rubbed his eyes, despairing. He couldn’t do this. Even if he managed to speed up, there was no way he’d have all the seeds sorted by morning. And speeding up increased the risk of messing up the piles, anyway.

He could try, but there was no way he was going to complete the first task. He’d barely started, and he’d already failed.

 

Tyler sat back with a groan, stretching his sore muscles and rubbing his eyes. What was he going to do?

 

He looked up again, and saw something strange. He blinked, thinking his eyes were playing tricks, but the sight remained.

The pile was crawling with ants.

The Erotes, he realised. They were all through the pile, swarming over it.

 

Tyler sighed. “Guys, don’t, if you mess it up I’ll never finish it,” he said. The ants ignored him.

 

He watched the ants as they scurried, seeing how they formed lines between the main pile and the three smaller piles, and it began to dawn on Tyler what they were doing.

Each ant had a grain on its back, carrying it from the main pile to the smaller pile the grain corresponded to.

Tyler blinked. The ants were helping him.

They were shifting the grains at a pace that far outstripped him, and with much more accuracy. Another group of ants sorted through the piles he’d already created, weeding out the stray seeds he’d accidentally mixed up.

 

Tyler sat back in surprise. “Wow, guys,” he said. “Wow. This could actually work. Thank you so much.”

 

He didn’t try to interfere – he was afraid he might mess up their flow, or place a seed in the wrong pile, or worse, crush one of them. So he sat back and watched in awe as the mixed pile slowly, smoothly disappeared, while the three sorted piles neatly grew.

By the time the first fingers of dawn had crept into the marble room, the piles were sorted, and the ants had disappeared again. Relieved, and overwhelmingly grateful, Tyler waited.

 

_Crash._

Tyler jolted awake, not even realising he’d fallen asleep. He blinked blearily and uncurled his stiff body from the hard marble floor, looking up.

The first things he saw were the three neat piles – he suddenly remembered the ants, the task.

The second thing was the empty bottle that smashed into the poppy seed pile, scattering the seeds and messing up the Erotes’ hard work. The bottle rolled in front of Tyler’s feet, clattering loudly on the stone floor.

Tyler looked up, to see a swaying Blurry scowling furiously at him.

 

“You did it,” Blurry growled. He was clearly drunk, barely able to stand upright. He’d come through on his offer to come back after dawn, at least. “How? You must have cheated. Nobody could have done that in one night.”  
  
“Define cheating,” Tyler said. “You didn’t say how I could do it, just to get it done, and I got the task done. You didn’t say I couldn’t have help, either. Besides, I couldn’t have used magic, or whatever, you know that – I’m just a mortal. How could I have cheated?”

 

Blurry snorted, stumbling away from the seeds. “Whatever. You got lucky. But you’ll need more than just luck and a bunch of friends for the second task, loverboy.”  
  
Blurry clumsily kicked at the piles, scattering the grains all over the floor. He stomped and jumped in the grains, crushing and messing up the laboured-over piles, reducing what had taken hours to sort to a mixed-up mess in seconds.

  
“For task number two,” Blurry began, “I want you to go visit Helios’ domain. He’s got a paddock of sheep – not just any old merinos, these ones. Their fleece is made of gold. I want you to visit them and collect a couple armfuls of golden wool.”  
Blurry smirked unpleasantly. “Again, though, I’ll give you a little bonus. Be careful about these sheep, loverboy. They bite.”

 

Blurry laughed, kicking his foot through the grains again, and staggered out of the marble room, presumably to collapse somewhere and sleep off his drunkenness.

As he left, he flicked his hand, and Tyler watched as black specks coalesced to form each of the Erotes, restored to their normal forms.

 

“Oh thank god,” Jesse cried, hands flying up to check his face and hair. “I hate being ants! That was the worst. Ants are the worst.”

 

“Thank you so much, guys,” Tyler said, sitting up. “I can’t believe that worked! I couldn’t have done that without you, no way.”  
  
“No biggie,” Michael said. “One step closer to getting Josh back, right? Besides, I like being ants, that was alright.”  
  
“Maybe for you,” Jenna grumbled, inspecting a deep bruise on her arm. “You didn’t get one of yours stepped on. Knew I shouldn’t have left one of mine in the barley pile.”

 

“Alright, so now we go find these sheep!” Tyler said, hopping to his feet. “Anybody know where Helios’ domain is?”  
  
The Erotes glanced at each other, then looked back at Tyler.

“Tyler,” Mark said. “Um, grabbing wool off the sheep isn’t gonna be as easy as it sounds.”  
  
“Yeah, Blurry said they’d bite,” Tyler said. “I guess we just gotta be careful. How bad can a sheep’s bite be, though?”  
  
“From a normal sheep? Not a big deal,” Mark said. “From _Helios’_ flock? Brutal. They’re not normal sheep, Tyler. They’re predatory. They don’t eat grass, they eat people.”

 

Tyler blinked. “Wait, what?”  
  
“They’re carnivorous, and extremely dangerous,” Mark said. “You so much as step into that paddock, they’ll be on you like a pack of piranhas. And like piranhas, their teeth are made for ripping. They’ll tear you to pieces in seconds.”  
  
Tyler’s enthusiasm deflated significantly. “Holy shit. Like that zombie sheep movie?”  
  
“Worse, these are faster,” Mark said grimly. “You’ll either fail this task, Tyler, or you’ll be killed.”

 

Tyler stared out of the marble room, heart sinking.

Each task was just going to get harder and more dangerous, he realised. If he somehow managed to survive this task as well, the third task may well be the one to kill him.

He sighed, steeling his resolve. It was either die or lose Josh, and he’d made up his mind that the latter was not going to happen.

 

Meanwhile, several floors below the marble room, Josh lay strapped to a bed, tossing and turning and struggling against the bindings in a fitful induced sleep.   
Blurry could keep Josh asleep while he healed, but he couldn’t take away the pain or the dreams, and Josh was trapped in both.

His dreams were filled with Tyler’s face when he’d stood over him holding the oil lamp, face frozen in a mix of awe and terror, and a dark, shadowy monster.

Its red eyes glowed bright, and Josh whimpered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Josh's "mom" tattoo doesn't have an arrow through it. I figured if I'm gonna give the dude wings and supernatural powers, a slight adjustment to a tattoo isn't gonna be a big deal.


	9. I'd live for you, and that's hard to do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn the sheep aint got nothing on these ewes.

“They don’t look _that_ dangerous.”

 

Michael’s hopeful words fell flat as the group crouched behind a thicket of grass next to the paddock fence, peeking through the leaves to watch the sheep.

The sheep were clearly not normal sheep. They were huge, closer in size to cattle, and were somehow more streamlined, nearly deerlike but for the thick pelts of shimmering wool clinging to their backs. Almost pretty, if you could call sheep pretty.

It appeared that they did eat grass – the flock grazed placidly in the paddock, seeming perfectly harmless and calm. Other than their unusual size, nothing about them seemed dangerous.

 

Then a fox strayed into the paddock.

 

The flock’s heads lifted in unison. Several hundred eyes trained on the prowling fox.

It all happened very quickly. In an eerie, unnerving sort of unison, the flock pounced.

Tyler had never seen a sheep pounce before, but he had seen videos of piranha swarms, and Mark’s words were scarily accurate. Within seconds the fox was devoured, and the sheep returned to placid grazing.

 

“Why would you make a sheep dangerous?” Tyler asked. “I mean, doesn’t that make it kinda hard to shear them?”

 

“Well,” Mark said. “Remember how vulnerable a normal flock of sheep is? To foxes and wolves and stuff? Now try and imagine how vulnerable a flock of normal sheep with _gold wool_ is. A single fleece would be worth thousands, if not millions of dollars. Suddenly you not only have a flock worth an unimaginable fortune, but you have a situation where you lose a fortune every time you lose a single sheep. And more, you not only have wolves and foxes preying on sheep, but thieves – how could anyone resist the chance to own a fortune? Secure their finances for the rest of their life, even their childrens’ and grandchildrens’ lives.”

He pointed at the sheep. “You can’t just have guards on patrol all the time; guards have to be paid, and more, thieves can slip past guards. So why not make the assets themselves impossible to steal?”

Tyler blinked. He supposed that made a lot of sense.

 

“Helios is the only person, god or mortal, who can safely approach these sheep,” Mark explained. “They’ll kill anything on sight except for him, or people who he brings with him. That’s how he sorts the shearing, anyway. But he’s not around right now, and even if he were, do you think a guy who made his sheep into lethal weapons to avoid any of them being stolen would be willing to help us nab a few handfuls of the wool he’s protecting?”

 

Tyler groaned. “So we’re on our own.”

“We sure are,” Mark sighed. “Any ideas, guys?”

“We could, um, run in and grab handfuls really fast?” Jesse asked halfheartedly. “Anybody bring scissors?”

Tyler buried his face in his hands. “We’re screwed.”

 

“Hey, wait,” Jenna said thoughtfully. “Guys, look further down the fence.”

 

Past the grass and bushes, the light twinkled off sparse pieces of spun gold, caught on the wire of the fence. It had even snagged on bushes and shrubs. Small handfuls, but enough here and there to make up one, maybe two whole fleeces.

 

“I guess these sheep scratch their backs on fences like any old sheep,” Jenna said. “Blurry didn’t say we had to get the wool straight off the sheep themselves. There’s another way around this. We can just collect the shed pieces.”

“Jenna, you’re a genius!” Tyler whooped. “We might actually survive this one.”

 

The group dispersed and spread out along the fence, quietly and carefully collecting the wool. It was heavier than Tyler expected; he supposed it made sense since the wool was made up of strands of pure gold, shimmering and sparkling in his hands.

It took several hours to collect enough wool, but the sheep fortunately remained oblivious to the thieves scurrying along the fence, and by the end the group had distributed the equivalent of at least a couple armfuls of wool between them, sharing the heavy gold amongst themselves.

 

“We did it!” Tyler exclaimed, struggling to even stand. “Now, how do we get back?”

 

In the end, the Erotes had to fly the wool back, bit by bit – a whole armful of wool was too much for one Erote to fly with, so the wool was divided again into smaller chunks and flown back over a couple of trips.

Then Michael returned to carry Tyler back. Tyler suspected he was the only one who hadn’t been completely exhausted by the task of flying the wool to Blurry’s domain.

The group returned to the mansion, wool divided amongst themselves again, and entered the marble room.

Blurry emerged, scowling and massaging his temples. He was dressed in a black silky robe, and he looked lethally hungover.

 

“You actually managed to get the wool?” he snorted. “That’s bullshit.”  
  
“Sheep shit, actually,” Tyler said, inspecting his shoes. “You might wanna wash these floors later.”

 

Blurry growled, and snapped his fingers. The wool burst into flames; Tyler jumped back with a yelp, dropping his armful, and turned to watch the Erotes also drop their burning wool, barely avoiding being burned themselves.

The hard-earned gold smouldered on the floor, the fruit of their exhaustive work literally going up in smoke.

 

“I don’t know how you did it,” Blurry growled. “Maybe you sweetened up Helios somehow, I don’t know. But you won’t manage this last task, not this time. And this time, the Erotes are _forbidden_ from helping you.”

 

“That’s not fair!” Tyler said. “You never said I couldn’t have help. I never asked them to help in the first place, anyway. You can’t stop them.”  
  
“I think you’ll find I can,” Blurry said. Smoky bars rose up from the marble, surrounding the Erotes in an incorporeal cage, trapping them inside.

Michael reached out to one of the bars, and hissed when his hand touched it, pulling it back. Tyler could see a burn forming on his palm.

 

“Your next task,” Blurry said, “Is to take a trip to the Underworld. Pay my girl Persephone a visit. She’s got something that needs to be delivered to me, and you can be my delivery boy. It’s a box containing something important. You don’t need to know what it is – just tell her you’re there to pick up a box for me, she knows. She’ll be expecting you. Alright?”

 

Tyler blanched. “I’m mortal. I can’t go to the Underworld. That’s a one-way trip for me.”

Blurry laughed. “You figured out the other tasks, didn’t you? Pull another miracle, loverboy. I’m sure you’ve got a lucky third one left in you still.”

 

He smirked, and left the room, faintly grumbling about his headache.

Tyler sat on the floor. He had no idea what to do.

The only way he could think of to get to the Underworld to be to die – and the domain was a floating island. It wouldn’t be hard to jump off.

But if he died, he wouldn’t be able to come back. He wouldn’t be able to collect the box and deliver it to Blurry. He’d be trapped.

He wouldn't ever see Josh again.

Blurry had him trapped.

 

“Hey, Tyler,” Mark hissed. “Get over here.”

 

Tyler looked up, and scooted over to the cage. Mark crouched down to talk at his level.

 

“Don’t kill yourself or anything,” he said. “If you do that, you’ll just get sent straight to one of the fields in the Underworld – you won’t even get an audience with Persephone or Hades. It’s a quick way to get there, but it’s a one-way trip. You need to be able to get to the throne room to see Persephone, and you need to be able to come back.”

“But how?” Tyler asked. “I don’t know any other way.”

“There is another way,” Mark said. “Listen carefully, I’m gonna be very specific.”

He pointed outside. “There’s a well outside of the mansion,” he explained. “It looks like a normal water well, but it’s actually a gate to the Underworld. It’ll drop you off on the other side of the Styx. What you have to do is dive into it and swim to the bottom. You won’t drown; it’ll take you to the Underworld, promise. Just keep swimming deeper, don’t be tempted to swim back up or you’ll get stuck and drown.”

He pointed to a door leading out of the marble room. “Through there is the kitchen,” he said. “Before you do anything, what you need to do is go to the kitchen and chat up the staff. There’s a sweet girl in there, she’s also called Jenna but she has dark hair, alright? Find her and ask her for six cakes and two coins. Don’t forget those numbers.”

“What for?” Tyler asked.

“The coins are for the ferryman,” Mark said. “You’re a mortal, so you need to enter the Underworld the same way all mortals do – via the ferry. If you want to make a return trip, you’ll need the second coin. The cakes are for the monster guarding the throne room – a three-headed dog beast called Cerberus. You need a cake for each head, and you need extras so you can leave as well as enter. He’s a grumpy mutt, and won’t let you back out unless you have more cakes for him.”

 

Tyler nodded. Six cakes, two coins.

 

“You’ll notice all this hinges on you making a return trip,” Mark said. “So it’s not one coin and three cakes – it’s two coins and six cakes. That’s really important, Tyler.”  
  
“Got it,” Tyler said.

 

“The other thing is, there will be distractions,” Mark said. “Other spirits who will ask you for help. Ty, you gotta ignore them. You can’t help them, they’re beyond help anyway. You’ll waste time, or put yourself at a disadvantage. You have to resist the urge to help them – focus on what you need to do.”

“Okay,” Tyler said.

 

“Also, it might be wise to find a gift for Persephone,” Mark added. “I have no idea what, though. I don’t know what she’d like. But get something small to give her. It’ll go a long way, I promise.”

 

Tyler nodded. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll.. I’ll try.”  
  
Mark nodded approvingly. “You got this, Tyler,” he said. “Just be careful, alright?”  
  
“I will,” Tyler said. “I’ll be back for you guys. Promise.”

 

He stood up, and followed the door into the kitchen.

 

The kitchen was surprisingly quiet – a couple of girls stood at the counter chatting. Tyler figured that Blurry probably didn’t eat a lot.

He cleared his throat, and the girls looked up.

 

“Um, hi,” he said nervously. “I’m looking for Jenna?”

 

One of the girls smirked. “That’s me,” she said. “And you’re that kid Blurry’s so pissed about.”  
  
Tyler sighed. “Yep, the one and only,” he muttered.

 

“I could get into a ton of trouble if I help you,” Jenna said. “I could end up in the dungeon, or something.”  
  
Tyler’s heart sank. “I know,” he said dejectedly.

 

Jenna beamed. “So. What do you need?”  
  
Tyler blinked. “You’re going to help me?”

 

“Of course!” Jenna said. “I bet it was Mark who told you to find me.”

Her smile slipped a little. “Is he alright?”

 

“Um, he’s okay,” Tyler said. “He’s kind of trapped in a cage, though.”  
  
Jenna frowned. “Shit. Well, thank you for telling me. What do you need?”  
  
“I need, uh, two cakes and – no, sorry – two coins, and six cakes,” he said.

 

Jenna smiled. “Alright, I’ll be right back,” she said, turning and opening a door that led into what looked like a huge pantry. She disappeared inside, the door closing behind her.

 

The other girl smiled at him. “That sounds like supplies for an Underworld trip. You off to the Underworld, then?” she asked. “Nice place. Went there for a holiday once. Kinda grim, but at least it’s quiet.”

 

“I bet it was,” Tyler mumbled. “Um, so. If someone was gonna give you a small gift, what would you want it to be?”  
  
The girl blinked. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. She hummed thoughtfully. “Jewellery’s nice, but it’s expensive,” she mused. “Or maybe perfume? But that’s tricky, because you don’t want to accidentally pick a perfume the other person hates. Hmm. Flowers are always nice. Flowers are a safe bet, I think. You can’t go wrong with flowers.”  
  
“Good point,” Tyler said. “Are there any flowers around?”  
  
“Oh! I could grab you some of the roses from outside?” the girl said. “They’ve just started blooming over the past few days, it’s so pretty. They’d make a lovely gift.”  
  
“That would be awesome, thank you,” Tyler said. “Maybe just one, though.”  
  
“A single rose coming right up then,” the girl said with a smile. “I’ll be right back!”

 

Tyler fidgeted nervously as he waited for the girls to return, half-afraid Blurry would lurch in and see him still in the house. He’d get into trouble for seeking help from more non-mortals, and the girls would get into trouble for helping him. He didn’t want either to happen.

The girls both returned at around the same time, Jenna holding a little bag, and the other girl holding a long-stemmed, dark red rose.

 

“Oh, pretty! Put that in here,” Jenna said, and the other girl slipped the rose gently into the bag, careful not to crush its petals.

 

“Six cakes and two coins,” Jenna said, holding up the bag. “It’s even waterproof, so the cakes won’t get soggy.”

 

“Thank you so much,” Tyler said, taking the bag and peeking into it. Golden-baked cakes and two coins winked out from the gloom inside the bag, and he fastened it again. “Both of you, thank you. I really appreciate it.”  
  
“No problem,” Jenna said, smiling. “The well’s easy to find, its just outside the front. White marble with a little copper roof over it. Good luck! And be careful!”

 

Tyler left the kitchen, waving at the Erotes and holding up his bag as he passed through the marble room again. Mark nodded and held a thumbs-up encouragingly, and the others waved with half-hearted smiles on their faces.

 

He left the mansion and walked around the building, looking for the well.

He found it soon enough – built with marble bricks and with a copper roof set over it, as Jenna said.

Tyler took a deep breath, peering into the dark water.

 

 _Well,_ he thought. _Here goes nothing._

 

-

 

Josh jolted awake with a whimper, struggling against the straps to sit up. He gave up when pain lanced through his chest, falling back against the bed with a cry.

He swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. His left pectoral was throbbing. When he cracked his eyes open and glanced down, he saw a large white bandage taped over the left half of his chest.

 _Tyler burned me,_ he remembered. _He spilled the lamp oil._

He couldn’t remember enough of it to be sure what had happened, but a hollow ache opened up in his stomach. _He couldn’t trust me. He just couldn’t believe that I wasn’t ever gonna hurt him._

And now he was strapped to a bed with a painfully healing wound on his chest, and who even knew where Tyler was?

He was bitterly disappointed, but he was also worried about him. What had Blurry done to him? And what had Blurry done to the other Erotes?

As his mind raced through his fears, footsteps echoed through the room. Josh opened his eyes. He looked around the room, seeing dark stone. He had to be in one of the dungeons in Blurry’s mansion.

The footsteps stopped, and a figure appeared in the doorway.

 

“You’re awake.”

 

Josh squinted, realising that the figure was Blurry.

 

“Where’s Tyler?” Josh asked, voice hoarse from disuse. “And the others?”

 

“The others are fine, they’re confined to the marble room,” Blurry said. “Tyler... well. I’m not sure, actually.”

 

Josh’s heart sped up. “What?”

 

Blurry smirked. “You know, he kicked up such a song and dance about wanting to fix things, make it up to you, wanting to set things right. So I gave him some chores. I said that if he manages to complete them, you guys get let off the hook for disobeying me, and he gets you back. But he won’t complete them.”

 

Dread prickled in Josh’s stomach. “What did you do?”

 

“He’s on his way to the Underworld,” Blurry said, inspecting his nails. “Asked him to pick up a delivery from Persephone. No biggie. Nothing one of you guys couldn’t do.”

 

“You _what?!_ ”   
Josh winced when his shocked cry made his burn twinge. Blurry smiled.

“He doesn’t have wings! He’ll have to take the ferry! He needs stuff for the ferry, for Cerberus, does he even know what he’ll need? He’s a mortal, he’ll get stuck!” Josh fretted. “He could die down there!”

 

“Yeah, well, he won’t if he’s smart about it,” Blurry snorted. “This is the only task I’ve given him that’s actually feasibly possible. Still don’t know how he managed the others.”  
  
“He’s done other tasks?” Josh asked, eyes widening.

“Yeah, I gave him three,” Blurry grumbled. “And, miracles above, he’s completed the first two. Don’t ask me how. The first one should have been impossible, and the second one should have killed him no problem.”

 

Josh blinked.

Tyler was _risking his life_ to make up for having not trusted him, he realised. He was willing to bargain with Blurry and possibly die if it meant a chance at having Josh back.

 _Oh Ty,_ Josh thought, heart aching. _You never even lost me._

 

“If he completes this task, you’ll let him see me, right?” Josh asked. “You’ll let us go?”

 

Blurry snorted. “He won’t,” he said confidently. “And even if by some miracle he does, no. No, I’m dropping him back in the mortal world where he belongs. And you’re going to _do your job_ and set him up with someone. As for you lot, what makes you think I’m letting you go?”

 

Blurry scowled at him. “I gave you specific instructions, and you failed to complete them. You went behind my back and lied to me. All of you conspired to keep things from me. Why would I just let you go?”

 

“This isn’t punishment enough for you?” Josh asked, gesturing to his bandaged chest and bindings strapping him to the bed. “You think we’re just gonna go right back to plotting after _this_ plan backfired so badly on us?”

 

“I don’t know,” Blurry said. “And to be frank, I don’t want to take the chance.”  
He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t trust you,” he growled.

 

With that, he turned and left the dungeon.

 

Josh squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his fists in frustration. Tyler was going to literally walk into the land of the dead, all for nothing, and there was nothing he could do.

When had Blurry gotten so _bitter?_ That he’d go back on an agreement like the one he’d made with Tyler?

Josh found himself actually thinking back, sifting through memories, trying to remember. And he was fairly sure he could pick where it had all gone wrong.

It started with Adonis, a mortal lover the god had taken when she’d still been Aphrodite. He’d died, and Aphrodite had been heartbroken. She’d even flown down to the Underworld to demand him back, but Hades had refused. Rules were rules, he’d said.

After that, Aphrodite just hadn’t been able to see the joy in love. All she’d seen were the failures, the heartbreaks. The cheaters, the liars, the abusers. Everything good in love began to look tainted, and over time it had changed her.

You don’t change your perception of the very element you preside over, without changing yourself. And Aphrodite changed drastically.

To the point where she’d physically transformed. First, she’d melted into an amorphous, abstract apparition, blurry and unfocused, and that’s when the Erotes had stopped calling it Aphrodite.

However they couldn’t call it nothing. So, it became “Blurry”. Like the cloudy form it had taken.

Then the cloud began to take shape. Details became clearer within the shifting mass, starting with red, glowing eyes. The love god had begun to take form, a new form, one totally different to the old one.

He’d changed gender, for a start. Then there was the black hands and neck. If the god of love was meant to reflect love, then love in the world had become decidedly dark and sour.

When the god of love had reformed as Blurry, his first order had been to forbid the Erotes from love. And from there, things had only grown worse. He began picking on mortals instead of helping them, deliberately setting up unhappy relationships as a sort of punishment for what had happened the one time he’d fallen for a mortal.

 _Mortals are changeful and unreliable,_ he’d said. _Never trust a mortal._

 

And now, Josh had no choice. He _had_ to trust in Tyler to be able to successfully complete his third task and come back alive. Otherwise, he didn’t know what he had left.

 


	10. I know it's hard sometimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler really, really doesn't like dogs. Especially not giant guard dogs with three heads.

Tyler took a deep breath, and dived.

 

The well was completely dark, and he had no way of seeing the bottom. Immediately, his lungs seized as he began to feel anxious – how could he tell how far he had to swim if he couldn’t see the bottom?

He kicked harder, lungs burning as he tried to swim down as fast as possible. His ears ached as he swam deeper, and stars began to pop in front of his eyes.

Growing lightheaded, the thought occurred to him to try turning around and swimming back up, but he was too late now.

Either he was going to swim to the bottom, or pass out and drown. His heart pounded.

 

And then, he began to see a dim light ahead. He kicked harder.

He reached the grey circle, seeing ripples across it, and realised – it was the surface.

His head broke the water, and he gasped, dizzy from lack of oxygen and disorientation.

He was at the bottom; but also at the top, somehow. Like he’d swum through the middle of the planet and come out through the other side.

His head spun.

He gulped air, coughing as he treaded water. He wanted to climb out, but he was in another well, similar to the well he’d dived into.

The walls were too high for him to rest his arms over the edge, so he had to settle for floating in the water until he’d caught his breath enough to haul himself over the edge of the marble bricks.

 

When he did climb out of the well, he looked around to find himself inside a huge, grey cavern.

The air was stale and still, and was cold in that insidious, bone-chilling sort of way. Long stalactites hung down from a ceiling he could barely see, but for the twinkle of luminescent cave life and exposed crystal formations high up in the cavern.

The well was next to a wall of the cavern, and Tyler’s shoes crunched over grey sand that, on closer inspection, appeared to be made up of hundreds of tiny sea creature remains – shells, skeletons, exoskeletons, all fragmented and crushed into sand.

The sand gave way to water a few metres away from the well – an eerily still river that yawned through the cavern like a huge lake.

 

The other girl in the kitchen hadn’t been exaggerating – the Underworld was deathly quiet. He could faintly hear the water lapping against the sand, and the odd drip of cavewater from stalactites into the river, but for that it was completely silent.

Tyler took a deep breath, and began to walk along the river’s edge. He had no idea where he was supposed to find the ferry, but he doubted he’d miss it.

Trudging along the sand in wet clothes turned out to be miserable business. Tyler gritted his teeth. Maybe he should have worn swimming trunks and a t-shirt, not jeans and a jacket. It’d have been cold, but his clothes didn’t do much to protect against the chill while dripping wet.

 

As he walked, he began to hear a faint crying sound. Tyler blinked. Were there people down here? He walked on, curious.

Gradually, he realised that a small grey figure that he’d initially mistook for a stalagmite was a child. A very small, very thin child, who was crying.

He approached the child.

“Hey, kid, you okay?” he asked. “Where’s your mom?”

 

“She died,” the child sobbed. “I’m so hungry.”

 

Tyler blinked, heart aching.

 

“Do you have any food?” the child asked, looking up with big, sad eyes. “Doesn’t have to be much. Just something so I can keep looking for my mom.”

 

Tyler sighed, and nodded, reaching into his bag. “Just a little,” he warned, breaking off a small piece from one of the cakes. “Here you go.”  
  
The child’s eyes widened as Tyler held out the cake. “Thank you so much!” the child gasped. “Thank you. That’s more than enough. Thank you!”

 

“No problem,” Tyler said. “I’ve gotta keep going, but good luck finding your mom, okay?”

 

“Thank you,” the child said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” The words repeated on and on, long after Tyler began to feel uncomfortable and walked away.

_Thank you. Thank you. Thank you._

 

He looked back at one point, and the child had disappeared. Yet the child’s words still rang on in his ears. His skin crawled.

 

The words still hadn’t faded when Tyler approached a boat anchored to the shore. A man sat in the boat, wearing round glasses and a waterproof coat. He appeared to be counting coins out of a huge sack that twinkled with collected coins and appeared to be the reason the boat floated so low in the water.

The man looked up. “You’re a live one,” he said incredulously. “You’ll still need a coin, though. No mortal comes across without payment, living or dead. No coin, no passage.”

 

This was the ferryman, Tyler realised. “I have a coin,” he said, fishing it out of the bag. “When are you leaving?”  
  
“You see any other passengers?” the ferryman snorted. “Come on. If you’re here, we leave now.”

 

Tyler climbed into the boat. The ferryman took his coin, tossing it into the sack and tying it up. Then he pushed the boat off the shore, sitting in the boat and picking up a pair of oars.

“Sit or you’ll fall out,” he scolded. “If you fall out, you’ll need another coin to get back in.”

 

Tyler sat down awkwardly. The ferryman ignored him, staring past Tyler as he rowed them across the wide, still river.

 

About halfway across the river, Tyler began to hear shouts and splashing. He looked around and saw, to his horror, a man splashing in the water.

 

“Dude, we have to help him!” Tyler said. The ferryman said nothing.

The man thrashed closer to the ferry, disappearing under the water in a tense moment before surfacing, spluttering and gasping. “ _Help!_ ” he cried.

 

Tyler reached out of the ferry to grab the man’s hand. He struggled to pull him into the boat, nearly falling out himself, until finally he had the man in the boat, gasping.

“Thank you!” he said. “Thank you, _thank you, thank-_ ”

 

A foot kicked into the man’s chest, sending him overboard back into the water. Tyler looked back at the ferryman in horror.

 

“No coin, no passage,” the ferryman said. “He’s not coming in without payment.”

 

“Why did you do that?!” Tyler yelled. “He was _drowning_ , he’s gonna die-”

 

“Sit down or you’ll fall out, and I won’t let you back in without another coin,” the ferryman growled, sitting down and taking up his oars again. “Haven’t you noticed? We’re in the land of the dead, moron. That man _can’t_ drown. He died long ago, and you can’t save him now.”

 

They passed several more thrashing ghosts in the water, all pleading for help, and Tyler could do nothing but ignore them. He was beginning to understand why the ferryman was so quiet.

The trip continued uneventfully. Tyler had no idea how long it took to cross the river, but by the time they reached the other side, his clothes were dry.

 

“Thanks,” Tyler mumbled, hopping out of the boat. “I’ll, um, I’ll be back to make a return trip.”

 

“Will you?” the ferryman asked. “Not many people make those. Well, you better have a return payment. No coin, no passage.”

 

The other side of the river was similar to the first side, but for a huge pair of black doors in the cavern walls. They looked like something out of a Lord Of The Rings movie, dark and menacing.

Tyler looked down the cavern, and saw a gate – where the dead were supposed to pass into the Underworld to be sorted, he realised. They probably weren’t supposed to enter the doors. The doors had to be the entrance to the throne room.

As Tyler approached the walls, he passed by an old woman, dressed only in a thin white nightgown. She cried, but unlike the child, she seemed to be trying to hide it, stifling her sobs into her hand. She looked up at Tyler, looking down again in shame.

 

Tyler gulped. “Are you alright?” he asked.

 

“I’m fine,” the woman mumbled, sniffing. “I’m waiting for my husband, but he’s just not here yet. I’m starting to worry he’ll never come. They still bury people with _coins_ , don’t they?”

 

Tyler’s heart twinged. “Yeah, they still do,” he reassured her. “Maybe he’s just... um, late.”

 

“Maybe,” the woman said. “I feel like I’ve been waiting so long. And there’s nothing out here, no food, no shelter, and it’s so _cold_. I’m afraid I’ll die all over again just from the cold.”

 

Tyler knew he had to get to the doors, but he couldn’t just walk past this woman. He felt too guilty.

“Hey, um,” he said. “Do you want my jacket? Just to help with the cold, I guess.”

 

The woman’s eyes widened. “If you don’t mind,” she said. “But what about you? Won’t you be cold?”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Tyler said, already taking it off. “I won’t be down here long, anyway. You need it more than I do.”

 

“Thank you,” the woman said, climbing into the jacket. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

 

Again, her words followed Tyler eerily as he passed her and approached the doors. He tried to ignore it, and the uneasy feeling in his stomach her voice gave him.

He pulled on the door knocker, but it wouldn’t budge.

He tried knocking it. Three solid clunks against the black wood, and it slowly creaked open.

Tyler slipped inside, and his mouth went dry when he walked in.

He was inside a large room, with another set of doors on the opposite wall. But in front of the doors was a hulking, huge beast.

It looked kind of like a black german shepherd, if german shepherds were the size of a small house, and had three heads. All three heads fixed on him, yellow eyes trained on Tyler as each set of jaws opened in a growling triple snarl at him, the intruder.

Tyler gulped. He’d never been especially fond of dogs. Especially not giant guard dogs with three heads.

He reached into his bag again, withdrawing three cakes.

Immediately the creature’s behaviour changed.

Cerberus’ jaws snapped shut, and the creature sat on the floor, eyes fixed on the cakes.

“T-these are for you,” Tyler said, gingerly holding out one cake. The middle head leaned down, delicately taking the cake in its teeth.

The other two heads both butted in for the second cake, quickly snarling at each other in a small argument over who got the second cake first. The middle head growled, and the heads fell in line, the right head drawing back as the left head politely took the second cake.

The third head took the third cake, and by now the creature was virtually amicable, lying on the floor and reaching out to gently sniff at Tyler.

He patted the middle head’s snout, and all three heads rumbled happily.

 

“I guess I’ll, um, get going now,” Tyler said, awkwardly stepping around the beast’s wagging tail. “See you later, doggy.”

 

He opened a door, and passed inside.

 

On the other side was a huge cavern-like room, Gothic walls stretching up into the ceiling. A bit like Blurry’s marble room, but made out of a dark, perfectly smooth jet-black rock. Obsidian, he realised. It was like a great volcano had exploded here, lava dripping down the room’s sides, only to be chipped away to reveal the smooth, melted black glass. The floor was perfectly smooth, but ripples patterning the surface revealed its once-liquid form.

He gulped, footsteps echoing as he walked through the room.

At the end of the room stood two huge thrones, side by side, made of the same black stone. And sitting in one, legs crossed as she slumped back against the glass, was a woman.

She had long black hair and pale olive skin, with red-painted lips. Dressed simply in black, Tyler realised she was holding a box, fiddling with the clasp on it.

She looked up with black-lined brown eyes that widened as they fixed on Tyler.

 

“How did you get in here?” she asked. “You’re supposed to go through the gate, not come through here. How did you get past Cerberus?”

 

Tyler swallowed. “I, um, I was sent by Blurry,” he said. “The delivery boy?”

 

The woman groaned. “He sent a _mortal?_ ” she asked. “Really? I figured he was just gonna send one of his Erotes. But a mortal? No wonder it took you so long!”

 

She grumbled, sitting up. “Wasting my time, for what?” she muttered.

 

“Uh, it’s a long story,” Tyler said sheepishly.

 

She smirked. “What, did you piss him off somehow?” she asked.

 

“Something like that,” Tyler said.

 

“Wouldn’t take much,” the woman sighed. “He’s so petty. Anyway. I guess you’re here for the box.”

 

“Yeah,” Tyler said.

 

She suddenly peered at him, frowning slightly. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked. “The ferry trip must have been freezing. It’s cold down here.”

 

“Oh, I’m fine,” Tyler said. “I had a jacket for the ferry trip.”

 

“What happened to it?”

She frowned. “You didn’t give it to the old woman, did you?”

 

Tyler blinked. “How did you know?”

 

The woman groaned, massaging her forehead. “Didn’t Blurry warn you? There are distractions down here. She was meant to trip you up. You should have just walked right past her, not given her your jacket!”

 

She looked up at him, glaring. “Did you help anyone else?” she demanded.

 

Tyler gulped. “On the other side of the river, there was a hungry kid,” he said. “I just gave them some food. And I tried to help a man in the river, but the ferryman kicked him off.”

 

The woman groaned again. “You’re so stupid,” she scolded. “You gave the kid food? Let me guess, food that’s meant for Cerberus?”

 

Tyler flushed “Just, like, half of a cake,” he said. The woman sighed.

 

“He’s not gonna let you back out if you don’t have something for each head,” she said. “He’s a fussy eater. And each piece has to be equal, or the heads will get jealous and fight. Doesn’t matter if you still have a third piece, if its smaller than the other two, then the heads will be upset.”

 

Tyler shuffled his feet. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he said. “And, I mean, I was told about the distractions – but I didn’t know exactly what they were meant to be. I just saw people who needed help. I just wanted to help.”

 

The woman sighed. “That’s noble of you, but being helpful doesn’t do a lot for you down here,” she said. “It doesn’t do much for them, either. They’re dead. Nobody can help them now. That’s the first thing you learn, when you come down here.”

 

She brooded over the box for a moment, seeming lost in memory. Then she sighed, shaking her head and returning to the present. “Well, I suppose you’ll want this,” she said.

 

Tyler suddenly remembered his gift. “Oh, I have something for you,” he said. He opened the bag, and pulled out the rose. Fortunately it hadn’t crushed or wilted inside the bag, and he held it out to the woman.

 

She blinked. “Oh! This is for me?” she asked. She took the rose, smiling wryly. “Thank you. I kind of prefer my flowers alive, but thank you all the same.”

 

Tyler suddenly flushed – of course, Persephone wasn’t just the queen of the Underworld; she was the goddess of flowers. And he’d essentially just given her a dead flower. Great.

 

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking, I just – I’m _so_ sorry -”

 

She laughed. “It’s alright, most things down here are dead anyway,” she said. “I’ll just add it to the collection, don’t worry about it. I appreciate the thought. It’s sweet, thank you.”

 

She smiled over the rose, smoothing her fingertips over the petals. “You know,” she said, “I might have some cakes out the back. I could give you one to replace the food you gave to the child – then Cerberus will let you out.”

 

“If you’d be okay with that, I’d really appreciate it,” Tyler said hopefully. “I mean, the delivery thing kind of hinges on me being able to get back.”

 

She laughed. “True,” she said. “You have a spare coin for the ferryman as well?”

 

“Yep,” Tyler said. The woman smiled.

“Good,” she said. “It’d be a shame if you couldn’t get back.”

 

She stood up, passing the box to Tyler. “ _Don’t open that,_ and wait here,” she said, taking the rose and walking behind the thrones.

There must have been doors behind the thrones, because she disappeared. Tyler waited uneasily for her to come back.

When she returned, she was holding a cake identical to the ones in Tyler’s bag. “Here you go,” she said. “That should help you get past Cerberus.”

 

“Thank you,” Tyler said. “Thank you so much.”

 

“It’s alright,” the woman said. “Just get that box back safe, okay? _Don’t_ open it. _Please_ don’t.”

She smiled at him. “You’re a nice kid,” she said. “It was naïve of you to help those spirits, but it was kind of you. Make sure you don’t try to help them on your way back, though. You _can’t_ help them, remember. And you’ll need everything you have to get back.”

 

She twirled the rose between her fingers. “Travel safe, kid,” she said. “I’ll see you again. Hopefully not too soon.”

 

“Hopefully,” Tyler said nervously. “Um, thanks for the box. And thanks for your help!”

 

He could feel her eyes on him all the way across the room as he walked back to the doors.

 

The trip back was uneventful. It was freezing in the ferry without his jacket, but the ferryman half-smiled when Tyler gave him the leftover half-cake, and even wished him a safe trip back to Blurry’s domain.

He felt guilty passing the woman and the child again, but this time they ignored him – the woman huddled in Tyler’s jacket, and the child was still nibbling slowly on cake.

He slipped the box into the waterproof bag before diving into the well again, feeling much more confident now that he knew how long he needed to swim, and the fact that he _would_ resurface.

By the time he’d climbed out of the first well and was marching back up to the marble room, he felt positively triumphant. _He’d done it._ He’d entered the realm of the dead and come back alive, and with Blurry’s box.

 

He pulled it out of the bag as he approached the marble room, grinning. “That wasn’t so bad!” he said to himself. “That was no problem! No complicated seeds, no flesh-eating sheep, no – oops-”

The box slipped out of his grip as he entered the marble room, clattering against the stone. Tyler’s heart pounded, but the box seemed undamaged. All that happened was the clasp came loose, and the top of the box opened.

“Shit,” he mumbled. “Don’t wanna mess up right before I finish.”

He knelt down to pick up the box, suddenly curious – there didn’t seem to be anything inside.

“Did Blurry just want the box?” he wondered, peering into it in confusion. “Why is it empty?”

 

His last thought, before the world went dark, was that it was strange that the box was empty, yet seemed to emanate a faint scent of faded roses.

As he felt his body fall limp to the floor, the last thing he heard was Josh’s shouting.

 


	11. Yeah I think about the end just way too much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death is, like. Way weirder and grosser than movies make it look.

Josh flew across the marble room, ignoring the pain in his chest. He crouched over Tyler’s body – god, he was still soaking wet, the water starting to form a puddle on the marble floor.

He took the box, scooping the viscous gas known as Persephone’s Breath off Tyler’s face and back inside, clasping it shut.

 

“Tyler?” he asked pathetically, shaking his shoulder. He knew it was useless. Tyler’s eyes stared sightlessly, the beautiful brown beginning to cloud over and dull.

 

“Fuck,” Josh sobbed. He felt useless. Helpless. He gulped air, trying not to panic. “ _Fuck_.”

 

Of course Blurry would ask Tyler to transport _Persephone’s Breath_. A strange gas with sleep-inducing qualities in divine beings, but lethal to mortals. All Tyler had to do was open the box out of curiosity, or accidentally knock it open like he’d just done so, and the gas would seep out and suffocate him within seconds.

Blurry had known that. He’d known the chance of Tyler opening the box was very high.

Father Ambrose’s prophecy flashed across Josh’s mind – the red-eyed shadowy monster, it was _Blurry_. The priest had been right. All along, Blurry was the monster who’d be responsible for Tyler’s death.

And now Tyler was dead.

Josh was too late.

 

He’d started working on the bindings as soon as Blurry had left, painstakingly ripping through each strap to free himself. He wasn’t fully healed yet by a long shot, but he could grit his teeth through the pain. He had mobility back, and that’s all he needed.

Then he’d crept up through the mansion, determined to make it to the well and find Tyler before he could do something stupid, like fall out of the ferry, or piss off Cerberus or...

_Or open the box._

 

“Tyler, you idiot,” Josh said, unable to stop the tears now. He sobbed openly, picking up Tyler’s body and hugging him to his throbbing chest. “You were _so close_.”

 

For some time, all Josh could do was sit and cry, holding onto Tyler’s body. He _couldn’t_ have lost him. Not yet. Not when they’d been so close.

And yet Tyler was dead in Josh’s arms, and everything – the tasks, Josh’s escape, it had been for nothing.

Eventually, Josh began to realise that Tyler’s body had become very pale, and unpleasantly cold. Purplish bruising-like marks were beginning to appear underneath his arms, and Josh shuddered. The first stages of death were well in motion.

If Josh was going to reverse this somehow, he had to reverse it soon.

He sniffed, angrily rubbing away tears and laying Tyler down on the marble.

“I’ll come back for you, okay?” he said, feeling an irrational stab of guilt at leaving the body behind. He didn’t want to leave Tyler, but he couldn’t exactly carry the body with him. The literal dead weight would slow him down.

He looked up, where the other Erotes were still trapped in the cage, stunned into a shocked silence. Josh realised they’d seen the whole thing, and his stomach felt hollow when he tried to imagine how helpless they must have felt, watching Tyler go to pick up the open box, and being unable to stop him.

 

“Josh, what are you gonna do?” Mark asked, voice sounding thick. He looked like he’d been holding back tears.

“Underworld,” Josh said. “I’ve got to do something.”

 

“You can’t,” Jenna said. She hadn’t held back; her eyes and nose were red and swollen, cheeks wet. “They won’t let you have him back. You can’t bring him back, Josh. Remember Adonis?”

“Yeah, well, Tyler wasn’t a self-absorbed meathead,” Josh mumbled. “Maybe I’ll have better luck asking them to give me back an actual nice person. And besides, he tried so hard. Blurry said the tasks were impossible, but he tried anyway, didn’t he? I have to try too. Even if they won’t give him back, I still want to try.”

 

“Be careful,” Jesse said, sniffing. “Don’t yell at Persephone or – or be mean. Don’t do what Aphrodite did.”

 

“I won’t,” Josh said. “I know they might not give him back. But I want to try.”

 

“Be _safe,_ ” Michael said, finally. “Whether you come back with Tyler or not, please at least just come back.”

 

“I will,” Josh said. “I’ll see you soon.”

 

Visiting the Underworld was a great deal easier for Josh than it could have been for Tyler. He dived into the well, and spread his wings as soon as he reached the surface, flying out and across the river, crossing it quickly. He pushed through the doors, flying past a bewildered Cerberus, and into the throne room.

He skidded across the obsidian floor, nearly crash landing, and looked up.

 

Persephone was sitting in her throne with her knees bent and feet on the seat, holding a rose. Next to her, in the other throne, a black-clad man with black hair that needed a haircut and piercing hazel eyes looked down at him, seeming surprised.

Persephone looked up, and her eyes were red-rimmed.

 

“I need to find someone,” Josh said. He felt rude, but he didn’t have time for pleasantries. “I need to bring a soul back.”

“On whose authority?” the man snorted. “I didn’t give permission for any souls to be released. Besides, down here it’s a one-way trip for mortals. You know that.”

 

Josh began to despair. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. But I need him, _please_.”

 

“You need him,” the man scoffed. “You _need him._ ”

He sighed, sitting forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “Look, I feel bad for you, I honestly do,” he said gently. “But I can’t give you a soul back. I just can’t do it. People die for a reason. And it hurts, but I can’t give people back to every family member or loved one who misses them.”

He shut his eyes. “I’ve had parents pass through here, leaving kids up there orphaned and destitute,” he said. “I’ve had moms lose babies. Do you know how hard it is having to process babies? Small children asking where their moms are, why they can’t go home?”

Persephone sniffed loudly, and Hades sighed. “We’ve had leaders shot before they could bring change, geniuses die before they can make society-changing discoveries. So many people die before they can ever use their potential. And I can’t bring them back, as much as it would benefit their families, their communities, the world.”

He sat back. “So what is it about this one soul that makes you think I should give _him_ back, but not any of _them?_ ”

Josh sighed. “I don’t know,” he said, blinking away tears. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I just wanted to try.”

 

Persephone suddenly sat up. “What was your soul’s name?”

Josh looked up. “Tyler,” he said. “He came here earlier, actually. He was supposed to pick up a delivery for Blurry?”

 

Persephone gasped suddenly, clutching at the rose. “You’re here for Blurry’s delivery boy!”

She chewed her lip. “How did he die?”

 

“The box – it contained Persephone’s Breath,” Josh mumbled. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”

 

Persephone looked down, chewing her lip. She looked on the verge of tears.

“I didn’t want him to die, I’d hoped it’d be years before I saw him again, not hours,” she said. “He looked so small, passing through the gate. I _told_ him not to open the box. I couldn’t tell him what it was – Blurry said not to. But I told him he shouldn’t open it.”

 

“Well, it fell open by accident,” Josh said. “He died trying to close the box and pick it back up.”

 

“Oh _no,_ ” Persephone said, eyes shiny. “But – why? Why did Blurry make him take the delivery, knowing the risks? He could have just sent one of you.”

 

“It was a test,” Josh explained. “He... it’s a long story. But Blurry set him several tasks, as a sort of punishment. He completed all of them, and this was the last one. And he nearly got it done, too. The box fell out of his hands just as he stepped back into the mansion. He was so close.”

 

“But why?” Persephone demanded. “Why would Blurry put him through that? What’s he punishing him for?”

Josh chewed his lip. “He’s punishing him because I fell in love with him,” he said, and Persephone’s mouth dropped open.

 

Hades blinked. “That’s against Blurry’s rules,” he said.

“Yeah, and he was pretty pissed when he found out,” Josh said bitterly. “So he gave him three tasks. Complete all of them, and he got to go free. But they weren’t easy tasks. Blurry was counting on one of them killing him. He didn’t really plan to actually free Tyler.”

 

“That’s not fair,” Persephone said in a wobbly voice. “He – _no_. He was so nice.”

 

She turned to Hades. “At least let him go so he can complete the tasks. Come on.”

“Why do you care so much about this one?” Hades said incredulously. “You didn’t let Aphrodite have Adonis.”

“She yelled at me and threw things at me,” Persephone snorted. “Threatened to tell my _mom_ if I didn’t let him go, of all things. Besides, Adonis wasn't a nice person. I know, I raised him - on Aphrodite's orders, too. And as much as I loved him as a child, he grew into a real asshole of a man. But this boy, he was _lovely_. He had a real good heart, Hades. Kind of naïve – he went and helped half the spirits stuck outside – but such a sweetheart. See, look, he even gave me this.”

She held up the rose.

 

Hades stared at it for a moment, then sighed. “Fine,” he said. “You can have him back. So he can complete his punishment with Blurry.”

Josh’s heart leapt. He hadn’t actually expected Hades to let him have Tyler back – the disbelief and joy sent his head spinning.

“But,” Hades added, “I can’t make it easy for you. It wouldn’t be fair on the souls who _don’t_ get to go back for you to be able to just walk back with him hand in hand, or anything.”

 

Josh nodded. Anything. He’d do anything if it meant having Tyler again.

 

“When you walk out of here, Tyler’s spirit is going to walk behind you,” Hades explained. “He will be able to follow you out of here, no problem. He won’t need payment or cakes or anything, just like how you don’t need anything. You will have to take the ferry, though – he doesn’t have wings. So, pass Cerberus, take the ferry, and swim up the well. He will follow you. But you can’t look behind you.”

Hades’ eyes hardened.

“If you turn around, even just to check he’s there, he’ll disappear and return straight back here. And that’ll be it. You won’t be able to have him back, not with any pleading or crying. You only get one chance to do this.”

 

Josh gulped, and nodded. “Okay,” he said. “No turning around.”

 

“Bring him back to his body, and he’ll return to it and restore it,” Hades said. “But do not turn around before you reach his body.”

 

Josh nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll do it. Thank you – thank you so much, both of you.”

 

Hades smiled. “Alright then,” he said. “And don’t go thanking us until you get back. You should be thanking my wife, anyway, not me – if your boy hadn’t endeared himself to her so much, we wouldn’t be doing this at all. Off you go. Tell Blurry we said hi.”

 

Josh swallowed, and turned around, walking back down the room towards the door.

He couldn’t tell if anyone was behind him – not even the sound of footsteps. But he noticed Cerberus whine happily as he reached the door, tail thumping against the floor.

 

He noticed the ferryman’s eyes light up as he climbed into the ferry, fixing on a point behind him. “No payment for you,” he said softly. “Free ride. On the house.”

 

There had been a moment on the opposite shore of the Styx where Josh’s anxiety had taken over; what if this was all some big trick? What if he walked all the way back, only to find he was alone? What if this was all a ruse just to get him to quietly leave the Underworld, and avoid the tantrums and mess that had happened when Persephone had refused Aphrodite?

He stopped, frozen, heart pounding. He couldn’t even hear footsteps.

And then, he heard a soft humming. Josh’s ears pricked, straining for the sound.

 

The humming gave way into sung words, and Josh felt himself relax with joy and relief.

 

“ _Oh, Miss Believer, my pretty sleeper_  
Your twisted mind is like snow on the road  
Your shaking shoulders prove that it's colder  
Inside your head than the winter of dead”

 

That was Tyler’s voice.

 

“ _I will tell you I love you_  
But the muffs on your ears will cater your fears  
My nose and feet are running as we start  
To travel through snow  
Together we go”

 

That was Tyler’s song.   
  


Tyler gently serenaded him all the way to the well, falling silent as Josh dived in. Josh waited a few metres in front the well for his singing to resume, and once Tyler took up the song again, he resumed walking back to the marble room.

He walked in, throat catching at the sight of Tyler’s body still laid on the marble floor. He walked past it, towards the cage, where the Erotes were still trapped.. They stared at him from inside – no, not at him, but _past_ him. To Tyler.

Tyler fell silent, and Josh stood nervously.

 

“Turn around!” Mark said. “Look!”

 

Josh swallowed, and turned.

 

Tyler was sitting up, staring at him with his mouth open. He no longer looked horribly pale, and the bruising patches had disappeared. He stared up at him with clear, brown, _alive_ eyes.

 

“S-sorry,” Tyler said. “Just still can’t get over how gorgeous you are.”

 

“Oh, _Ty,_ ” Josh said, falling to his knees and pulling Tyler into a tight hug. “It’s _so_ good to see you.”

 

“I thought I lost you,” Tyler mumbled into his neck. “I was so scared I wasn’t gonna see you again. I thought I failed.”

 

“I thought I’d lost _you,_ ” Josh said, sucking in a deep breath, inhaling the smell of Tyler’s hair. “And then Hades had to pull that Orpheus stunt on us. That was horrible.”

 

“God. I was so scared you were gonna turn around,” Tyler mumbled. “I finally get how anxious you must have been before I blew everything. With the lamp, and stuff.”

He suddenly pulled away. “Shit, your chest! Your bandage is all wet, Josh.”

 

“It’ll be fine,” Josh said, pulling him tight again. “Just. Let me hug you. Okay?”

 

“I don’t know,” Tyler said. “I kind of stink. Like, really bad. Oh my god. Dying is _gross_.”

Tyler pulled away a little, looking down at himself and grimacing. “My clothes, _ew._ Did I, like. Shit myself? Is that a thing that happens when you die?”  
He shifted uncomfortably. “I need to take a really long shower and change. This is disgusting.”

 

Josh laughed, pulling him back. “I literally do not care how gross you are right now, I’m just so happy to have you back,” he said. “Shitty pants and all.”

 

Tyler snorted into his neck. “God. That’s how you know it’s real.”

He squeezed Josh one last time, hugging him tight, before pulling away. “Alright,” he said, looking around for the box. “Now to get this last task finished.”

 

Uneasiness crawled in Josh’s stomach. “Ty,” he said in a warning tone. “Blurry – he told you we’d all be free if you finished the tasks, that we’d get to be back together, but... he was lying. He doesn’t plan to actually let us have that. I mean, he was counting on the tasks either beating you or _killing_ you.”

“I figured as much,” Tyler admitted. “But I have to try, don’t I?”

Josh sighed, taking Tyler’s hand and squeezing it. “Alright,” he said. “But, um. If he forbids us from having any more contact – I just want you to know I love you, okay?”

Tyler glanced up at him with shiny eyes, before staring in his lap. “I can’t believe that,” he said. “After everything – after what I did – I didn’t even expect you to want me back-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Josh said. “You did it because you were scared, and I get that. I get it completely. I wasn’t gonna stop loving you just because you messed up, Ty. I was upset, but I never stopped loving you.”

 

Tyler sat in stunned silence for a few moments. Then he leaned over and kissed Josh’s cheek.

“I love you too,” he mumbled. “I’m gonna miss the hell out of you.”

 

“You sure?” Josh joked, ignoring the tight lump in his throat. “I mean, your life might actually go back to normal. No more almost getting killed, or _actually_ getting killed.”

“This is gonna sound cheesy, but I’d die a hundred times if it meant I got to be with you in the end,” Tyler said sheepishly. “I’d have done a hundred tasks if Blurry had set them, not just three. Besides, apparently I’m kind of a natural talent at this stuff. What’s another ninety-seven tasks, huh? All in a day’s work.”

 

He picked up the box. “I’m gonna give this box to Blurry,” he said, “and then I’m gonna shower. In that order. Because who would I be to deprive dear Blurry of the glorious aroma of my post-mortem bodily functions?”

He smirked and winked, and Josh laughed.

“Alright then,” Josh said, smiling. “It’d be a shame for Blurry to miss out after we all got to enjoy it, I guess.”

 

Tyler stood up shakily. “Oh my god. It’s like I’ve been sitting on a rough boat ride for three hours.”

“Don’t fall over,” Josh said. “You don’t wanna leave skid marks all over the floor.”

Tyler laughed as he passed the cage.

 

“Hey, Tyler,” Mark said. “Natural talent, my ass. You know you couldn’t have done the first tasks without us.”

“True,” Tyler said, smiling gratefully. “How are you guys holding up?”

 

“The general aroma isn’t the greatest,” Mark admitted. “Neither is being stuck in a room with a dead body.”

Tyler held his hands up. “Look, I kind of couldn’t help either of those things.”

 

“I know,” Mark said, smirking. “It’s, uh. Really nice to see you not dead, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Tyler said. “I’ll see how I go convincing Blurry to let you guys out.”

 

“Good luck!” Mark laughed. “I think you’ll need it. _Don’t_ go into the kitchen, by the way, take the second door.”

 

He pointed out a door a few metres up from the kitchen door.

Tyler waved gratefully, and slipped through it.

The door lead to a corridor, where Tyler found a flight of stairs. He walked up, not sure of what he’d find.

The stairs apparently led to an upstairs study. Tyler pushed the door open, finding Blurry sitting inside.

 

Blurry immediately wrinkled his nose. “What the fuck?” he said, covering his face with his hand. “Jesus Christ. You came back? You smell like literal death.”

 

“That kind of makes a lot of sense, considering I kind of died thanks to you,” Tyler said. “Anyway, I got your box. Persephone thinks you’re nuts, because this has got to be the most inefficient delivery method ever, considering you have non-mortal people who can actually _fly_.”

“What do you mean _‘kind of died’_? You didn’t actually _die_ , visiting the Underworld doesn’t count,” Blurry snorted. “You didn’t open it, did you? Is that why you stink?”

“It fell open,” Tyler said. “I tried to close it, and whatever’s in there didn’t agree with me, I guess.”

 

Blurry blinked. “You literally died?” he asked.

“Well, I mean, that’s what it does, doesn’t it?” Tyler asked. “The stuff inside, it kills you, yeah?”

 

Blurry sat back. “Jesus,” he said. “What the hell are you doing here, then? You should be in the Underworld.”

Tyler shrugged. “Hades figured I should get the job finished,” he said. “And Persephone took a liking to me, I guess. She’s a nice lady, I like her. Still not sure about the dog, though.”

Blurry snorted. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Hades _never_ releases mortal souls. Ever.”

 

“Well, you know how he is about rules,” Tyler said. “You set me a job, and he figured I should finish it. So.”

He dropped the box on Blurry’s desk. “There you go. One order of death gas coming right up.”

 

Blurry scowled. “Well, whatever,” he growled. “I can’t consider this task successfully completed.”

 

Tyler blinked. “What?”

 

“You dropped the box, spilled the contents,” Blurry said. “You _died_. That’s not a successful delivery. If you were a UPS guy, you’d be fired.”

 

Tyler shifted uncomfortably. “You said nothing about opening the box, actually,” he said. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you wanted me to open it. And besides, the contents aren’t _damaged_. It’s gas.”

“Fine, well, you still aren’t getting your boyfriend back,” Blurry growled. “And they don’t get to go free.”

 

Tyler swallowed. “You made the terms of the tasks very clear,” he said firmly. As firmly as he could under the glare of a red-eyed beast, anyway. “If I completed them, I got to have Josh back, if he wanted me. The Erotes would be freed. That’s _why_ I agreed to the tasks.”

“Yeah, well I’m changing the terms,” Blurry snarled. “You’re lucky to even have your _life_. You’re lucky I didn’t kill you the second I found out about the Erotes’ plot. You’re lucky I even gave you a chance, rather than just dropped you straight back in the mortal world.”

 

“That’s not fair!” Tyler said. “That’s – you can’t just change the rules like that!”

 

“He’s right, actually,” a gruff, unfamiliar voice piped up.

 

Both Tyler and Blurry turned to face the speaker.

 

An extremely tall, solidly built man with a ginger beard and black bat-like wings curled behind his back coughed politely. “Good, you two finally noticed me,” he said. “I thought the dramatic flourish of smoke coupled with my mysterious appearance out of thin air would have caught your attention, but whatever.”

 

“Who are you?” Blurry demanded.

 

“Well, I’m Brad,” the speaker said. “I’m, uh, one of Hades’ people? He said hi, by the way.”

“What does Hades want?” Blurry growled.

Brad shrugged. “Mostly just to check in on how the delivery went,” he said. “Seeing as for some dumbass reason you picked a _mortal_ to deliver it, and all. Also, uh. He heard about the tasks you set said mortal.”

 

He fixed Blurry with a steady glare. “He wanted to make sure you followed through on the terms and agreements set along with the tasks. Seeing as it’d be misleading for you to set terms you didn’t plan on following through, right?”  
He snorted. “Because I mean, like. As if some idiot would wanna steal wool from killer sheep and traverse the goddamn _Underworld_ if he didn’t expect to get something out of it, _right?_ ”

“Besides,” he added, “How bitter do you have to be to refuse to acknowledge the dude clearly loves your other dude, after he fuckin’ walked through the Underworld and back for him? Because, yeah, we heard about that part too.”

 

Blurry gritted his teeth. “And what makes you think Hades can force me to follow through on my terms?” he asked. “What power does Hades have?”

“Well, I mean, he’s kind of the god of death, so actually a lot,” Brad said. “He’s also kind of Zeus’ brother. And he figured you might say something like that, so, uh...”

 

Brad withdrew a slip of paper from his jacket pocket, holding it out to Blurry. Blurry snatched it, eyes skimming across the words written on it.

 

“What in Olympus is this?!” Blurry exploded, flame bursting across the paper.

 

“A note from Zeus,” Brad said. “Enforcing you to follow through with the promises you made to Tyler should he complete the tasks you set him. Which, since he did complete the tasks, you have to do. And Zeus definitely has the power to force you to follow through.”

 

He peered at the smoking paper. “I have another copy, by the way. Thought you might do that.”

Blurry scowled. “The Erotes are still forbidden from love. How can I allow Tyler and Josh to be together if Josh is forbidden from love?”

“I don’t know man,” Brad said irritably, shuffling his wings. “End the rule? It’s dumb, anyway. They’re fuckin’ _love deities,_ for Zeus’ sake. Do you not realise how irrational that rule is?”

 

Blurry blanched. “No, _no,_ ” he said softly. “No, I can’t do that. They’ll – get hurt..”

 

Tyler blinked. All of this, all of Blurry’s cruelty and bitterness – was it just to prevent the Erotes from getting hurt?

 

Brad sighed, walking up to Blurry and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Look, dude, I know you’re struggling with a bunch of issues,” he said. “But, y’know, sometimes you gotta let the people you care about get hurt. Sometimes you need to get hurt to find joy, and all that. Good things take sacrifice, and love is no exception. You should know that.”

 

Blurry clenched his fists. “ _No_. Not after Adonis.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Brad groaned. “Adonis was gorgeous, but he was a _shithead_. I know, I have to babysit the dude down there. Go find some actual nice person, alright? You know, I hear Hephaestus is actually a super sweet guy.”

 

“Besides,” Tyler added tentatively. “You’re not keeping the Erotes from getting hurt by forbidding them from falling in love. They’re just getting hurt in other ways, instead. You’re keeping them from happiness, _and_ they’re getting hurt in the process.”

 

Blurry shot Tyler an ugly glare, but he sighed.

“Fine,” he muttered. “We’ll try it out. If they wanna go through the misery of love, that’s their choice. Whatever. But,” he pointed at Tyler, “I don’t wanna see you, or have to even think about you. You wanna wander the domain, stay out of my sight. And _no more love songs that aren’t about love._ ”

 

Tyler sheepishly scratched his head. “You know, the whole writing-love-songs-despite-never-having-been-in-love thing is kind of a moot point, now,” he said. “Because I’m actually in love. And if it helps, a lot of the recent stuff I’ve been writing – since marrying Josh... it’s some pretty sappy stuff.” He flushed.

Blurry blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Tyler said. “I – god. They’re so bad, I really have to work on them. But they’re love songs. And who knows, if we hit the marketing right, we could use them to push the older songs down the chart, have the love songs in the top ten instead.”

 

“Oh,” Blurry said.

He walked back over to his chair, sitting down heavily.

“Look, can you two..” Blurry sighed, passing a hand over his face. “Please leave. Go find Josh. Or, god, take a fucking shower already. I need... to think.”

 

Brad took Tyler’s shoulder, pushing him gently out of the study.

“Uh, thank you so much,” Tyler said, once they’d left the study and were descending the stairs.

 

“It’s no biggie,” Brad said, shrugging. “Boss’s orders – he really wanted to make sure you, know, actually got something out of being killed and coming back to life and stuff. Plus, Mark’s a buddy of mine, I kinda needed to help him out. Also, well done on getting on Persephone’s friends list. Holy shit. Talk about powerful friends, my dude.”

 

Tyler blinked. The idea of being friends with the queen of the Underworld was a bit daunting.

 

“Also, uh, once you’re clean and recovered and stuff,” Brad added, “You’ve gotta head up to Olympus. Zeus needs to officiate some stuff before you can be officially married to Josh.”

Tyler frowned. “But we are officially married,” he said, holding up his hand, showing off the ring.

Brad laughed. “Yeah, by _mortal_ terms,” he said. “You ain’t married by _divine_ terms yet, though. You’ve got a wedding to get ready for.”

 

He glanced at Tyler’s jeans. “And, uh, you really probably should shower before you get married,” he added.

 

When they returned to the marble room, Brad immediately crossed the floor to the cage, high-fiving Mark through the bars.

“You got my message!” Mark exclaimed.

“Sure did, dude,” Brad said, tapping the smoky bars with one finger. The bars immediately dissolved, evaporating and allowing the Erotes to go free. “Oh, and we had a chat with Blurry. He’s gonna follow through with the terms.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “We’re free?”

“Basically,” Brad said. “I mean, you still work for the guy. But I think we’ve even got him to agree to lift the love rule.”

“Wait, you mean -” Jesse gasped. “We’re not forbidden anymore?”

“I guess,” Brad said. “Do whatever you wanna do, and all that, man.”

 

The Erotes whooped. Mark ran forward and hugged Tyler. “You did it!” he crowed. “I can’t believe you did it!”

He pulled away, wrinking his nose. “You still stink, though,” he said. “Ew.”

 

Tyler grinned sheepishly. “So, uh,” he mumbled. “Anybody know where the showers might be?”

 

“I’ll show you,” Josh said. Tyler glanced across to him, and nearly double-taked _again_. He was going to have to stop doing that. But it was incredibly difficult given Josh was, you know, kind of transcendentally beautiful.

 

Josh walked up to him, taking his hand, and Tyler felt himself actually _blush_. Like he was some kind of giggly schoolboy.

 

“It’s so, so weird, seeing how pretty you are,” Tyler confessed as Josh led him through the mansion. “I mean, it’s kind of embarrassing. You’re all ethereal and gorgeous, and I, like. Look like death warmed up. Because I literally _am_ death warmed up.”

Josh laughed softly, and to his surprise, Tyler saw that _he_ was blushing. “Oh, c’mon,” Josh said. “You’re beautiful. You got such a cute nose, y’know that?”

“You’ve got a cute _everything_ ,” Tyler complained. “And I thought I was over the whole blushing crush phase, but now I’m stuck right back into it. How do you _do_ anything in the mortal world, anyway? Like, how do you not have people throwing themselves at you every five seconds?”

Josh went even redder. “I have glamours,” he said timidly. “I don’t walk around looking like this the whole time.”

“Thank god,” Tyler said. “I don’t wanna have to fight people off you every time you go to work.”

 

Josh giggled, covering his face with his hands. “Stop it. I’m not – don’t be silly.”

 

“No, you stop it,” Tyler said. “It’s just so weird. I fell in love with you just from what a sweet person you are, how kind and funny and how well you understood me – and now I get to fall in love all over again on a purely shallow level, just because you’re so gorgeous. Let me be an embarrassing mess.”

Josh flushed. “I guess it’s kind of the same for me too,” he said softly. “I got a crush on you because of your music, you know that?”

 

Tyler blinked. “Really?”

 

“Yeah. Heard one of your songs on the bus, and I just thought – holy shit. This dude’s _mind_. He creates such beautiful things. I wanted to get to know you because I figured, like, I could really get along with a guy who creates stuff like this.”

He squeezed Tyler’s hand. “And that turned out to be true. I guess I thought you were kind of cute, but it wasn’t until I heard your music and got to know you that I really thought, wow. This is one special person. And that just shines out of you, y’know? It’s in your eyes and your hands, everything.”

 

Tyler flushed. “What the hell. I’m the one meant to be getting all sappy, not you.”

“So you can dish it but you can’t take it?” Josh teased.

 

He led Tyler into a large bathroom. “Here we are – towels are in the cupboard. Throw your clothes in the basket, one of the house staff will wash ‘em.”

He glanced back at Tyler. “Do you want me to find you some clean clothes?” he asked. “I think Blurry would rather lend you clothes than let you roam around naked, anyway.”

 

Tyler smirked. “Well, we wouldn’t wanna upset Blurry,” he said. “As much as I’d love to see his face if I did try that. I think I’ve antagonised him enough for one day just by, y’know, existing.”

Josh laughed. “You know, most mortals would be shaking in their boots at the prospect of confronting Blurry,” he said. “And here you are joking about pissing him off more. I don’t know how you do it.”

 

Tyler shrugged. “I think I stopped being scared around the moment I realised he’s essentially a petty kid, throwing a tantrum because he’s not getting his way,” he explained, scratching his head. “I realised, he’s not gonna give me what I want if he can help it. And, I don’t know. That kind of made me angry.”

He looped his arms around Josh’s neck. “He wanted to keep us apart, and that just made me angry, I guess. Angry that he was being irrational, angry that he was gonna take away maybe the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And when I got mad and decided I was gonna fight to keep him from doing that, I stopped being scared.”

 

Josh raised an eyebrow. “So if Blurry’s the petty kid who won’t give you your stuff back,” he said, “Does that make you the possessive kid who gets jealous when other kids play with your stuff?”

Tyler blinked. “I guess,” he said, and smirked. “Are you saying you’re my toy that I don’t wanna share?”

Josh flushed. “Alright, on that note, I’m gonna go hunt down some clothes,” he said. “See you later. Have a good shower, love.”

 


	12. I know where you stand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everybody loves a wedding~

When Tyler finally emerged from the shower looking and feeling a little less like death, he found a neat pile of clothes sitting on a chair next to the sink. They were clearly Blurry’s, being all black – a plain t-shirt and jeans – but they fit surprisingly well. Tyler decided not to think too much about the possible origin of the boxers – at this point, he’d rather wear someone else’s underwear than the underwear he’d changed out of.

“Maybe one day I’ll get to actually wear my own clothes at some point,” Tyler grumbled to himself, but it did feel good wearing clean clothes.

He poked his head out of the bathroom door, glancing around. Seeing nobody, he made his way back to the marble room, wondering where Josh and the others had gone.

 

He found Brad in the marble room.

“Oh good, you look presentable,” he said. “C’mon. You’ve got a wedding to attend.”

“Right now?” Tyler squeaked. “Where’s Josh?”

“He’s _there,_ ” Brad said. “You’re kind of late.”

“Nobody told me when the wedding was gonna be,” Tyler protested as Brad looped an arm around his waist and hoisted him into the air.

 

“Don’t I at least get to nap?” Tyler complained. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

“You just _died,_ ” Brad chuckled. “Isn’t that, like, the ultimate nap? You’ll be fine.”

 

The trip to Olympus didn’t take long, but Tyler’s heart was in his mouth the whole time. What kind of ceremony did divine marriages entail? Who was going to be there?

The entire pantheon, apparently, Tyler realised as they approached the top of the mountain.

The summit of Olympus was overtaken entirely with classical-style marble buildings, like a grand palace in the clouds. Tyler had never seen anything like it.

And a courtyard between the buildings was packed with people. Tyler gulped.

Brad landed in the middle of the courtyard, in front of a wrought-iron garden arch dripping with creeping roses.

Tyler’s heart leapt when he saw Josh standing under the arch, next to a shorter, stocky man with short, bleached-blonde hair, tan skin, and stern eyebrows over dark brown eyes. He had a suit on with a leather jacket instead of a blazer. He looked more like a diminutive bouncer than a marriage celebrant.

 

“Great, so the second groom finally decides to grace us with his presence,” the man drawled. Tyler gulped.

“S-sorry, I really had to shower,” he said. The man smirked.

“Well, you made it,” he said. “I’m Zeus. And you’re Tyler?”

“Y-yeah,” Tyler said.

 

“You know, your boyfriend would _not_ shut up about you the whole time we were waiting here,” Zeus said. “I was getting kinda nauseous, actually. Love deities are so fuckin’ mushy.”

Josh flushed. Tyler noticed that he was wearing a check button-down with short sleeves, a bow tie, and suspenders clipped to his skinny jeans. He looked like he’d tried to hit the mark between casual and formal, and somehow managed to hit the extremes of both. It looked a bit endearingly silly, and Tyler’s heart surged with fondness.

 

“Oh, yeah, someone had a present for you,” Zeus added. “’Phone, my girl! Did you have something you wanted to give Tyler before we started?”

“I did,” Persephone said, appearing out of the crowd with a smile. She squeezed Tyler’s shoulder gently. “And don’t you dare call me ‘Phone’ again, Zeus.”

 

She held out a sheer black robe with roses printed all over it. “I thought you mightn’t get a chance to change into something nice before the wedding, so I hoped this might dress you up a bit,” she explained. “Can’t have you looking too casual at your own wedding, can we?”

 

She slipped the robe over Tyler’s shoulders, and to Tyler’s surprise, the robe started blooming. Small rosebuds popped up around the hem of the robe, like a fringe.

Tyler smiled, holding his arms out to admire it. “This is incredible, Persephone. Wow, thank you.”

“Now you both look a little dressed up,” Persephone said, winking. She stepped back into the crowd, next to Hades, who was wearing sunglasses and looked a little bewildered at being out in the sunlight.

 

“Alright, so, we ready to roll?” Zeus asked. Tyler and Josh glanced at each other, and nodded.

“Sick,” Zeus said, clapping his hands together. “Alright, cool. Now. First of all, do we have anybody in the pantheon who might object to this marriage?”

 

Tyler turned to glance across the crowd. His heart jumped when he saw Blurry scowling out from near the back, but Blurry said nothing.

 

“Nice, nice,” Zeus said. “Alright, so. Josh, do you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself to Tyler in marriage? If so, answer _‘I do.’_ ”

“I do,” Josh said in a small voice, looking nervous. Zeus glared at him, and Josh flushed, clearing his throat. “I do,” he repeated more loudly.

“Awesome,” Zeus said. “Okay, so, Tyler. Do you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself to Josh in marriage? If so, answer _‘I do.’_ ”

“I do,” Tyler said, voice coming out a little quavery. It felt weird declaring it in front of so many people.

The last time he’d said _‘I do’_ , he’d been terrified out of his mind and bracing himself for death. This time, the scariest part of the ceremony was being in front of such a big crowd.

 

“Good stuff,” Zeus said. “Now, I figure you already sorted the vows and rings and junk in the mortal world, so let’s skip the boring shit.”

He spread his hands. “As ruler of the gods of Olympus, I hereby recognise this marriage as valid in the eyes of the gods and the divine.”

He smirked. “Go ahead and suck face, and stuff,” he said.

 

Josh flushed again, but smiled as he leaned in towards Tyler. They kissed chastely, lips barely brushing each other, but Tyler’s heart fluttered all the same. He squeezed Josh’s hands tightly, unable to stop himself from grinning.

 

“That was boring,” Zeus snorted. “Anyway. Suck face properly later if you’re feeling shy, I guess. Congratulations!”

 

Afterwards, they were whisked off to a huge feast in a massive marble hall, where Tyler and Josh were sat on the end of a long table and greeted and congratulated by hundreds of gods and divine beings.

Tyler, of course, didn’t actually know any of them, and it was a bit bewildering getting up close and personal with gods whom he’d only heard about. Meeting Athena – his own family’s patron deity – had been particularly daunting, like meeting a celebrity you’d grown up seeing on t.v.

At last, the array of new faces gave way to gloriously familiar ones – Persephone and Hades, who congratulated them with wry smiles, and the Erotes.

Mark appeared with the brunette Jenna holding onto his arm, beaming widely. “Congrats, dude,” he said to Tyler. “Also, thanks.”

Tyler suddenly realised that there might have been people who the Erotes had loved before Blurry’s new rule. Seeing Mark and brunette Jenna together drove home exactly what the Erotes had been missing.

Jenna and Jesse both gave Tyler tight hugs and gushed their congratulations, and Michael simply wordlessly swept Tyler up in a bone-crushing hug.

Even Brad approached to shake his hand. “I’m actually a big fan,” he admitted. “I know Mark through concert photography – it’s a hobby of mine too, when I get downtime from work, and I’ve actually done a few of your gigs. It’s super cool to meet you.”

By the end of it, Tyler was relieved when people started to sit down and eat, or talk amongst themselves.

He glanced over at Josh, wondering if he was in any way as bewildered. Josh looked back at him, his perplexed expression changing into a smile.

“I don’t know half of them either,” he admitted. “I think they just came for the food. Everyone loves a party, I guess. The gods will take any excuse to get down.”

 

Tyler looked down the table to see Blurry in animated conversation with a short, bearded man who must have been Hephaestus. He smirked. Even Blurry seemed to be enjoying himself, somehow.

 

“Oh! I have one more thing to do,” Zeus said, suddenly appearing to smack Tyler’s shoulder. “Everybody, listen up.”

 

The crowd predictably didn’t notice him, and Zeus groaned, putting down his beer.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered out a “ _Listen up, shits_ ” across the hall, and the crowd looked up.

 

“So, it’d be kind of stupid to marry an immortal off to a mortal, considering how fast mortals die,” Zeus said. “And that’s kind of what we just did. So, uh. How do you feel about the idea of being a god, kid?”

 

Tyler blinked. “Me?” he asked. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Zeus said. “Seriously.”

 

Tyler chewed his lip. “Well – I guess it’d solve the ageing-and-dying-before-Josh issue,” he mumbled. “But... I don’t know. It seems like a huge responsibility.”

Zeus shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal, trust me,” he said. A couple of gods behind him rolled their eyes – Tyler tried not to smirk when he remembered Zeus’ reputation for skiving off his duties to flirt with mortals.

“Well,” Tyler said. “If you think it’d be a good idea...”

 

“Sick, so it’s settled,” Zeus said. He rubbed his hands together, electricity sparking between his fingers. “I dub thee, or whatever, Psyche. God of the mind and soul. It takes a pretty tenacious spirit to walk through the Underworld and back without a hitch, a bunch of determination to try something as boring and tedious as sorting seeds, and a _lot_ of nerve to steal gold wool from a tightass like Helios.”

Tyler glanced across the crowd and winced as he spotted a flame-haired god squinting lividly at him.

 

“Okay, so,” Zeus said, and he separated his hands, lightning bolts jumping between them. “Hold very still. This might sting.”

 

He placed his hands on Tyler’s shoulders, and a sharp, zinging jolt of pain was the last thing Tyler registered before he blacked out.

 

-

 

Tyler became dimly aware of someone calling his name. He shook his head, wanting to sink back into darkness, but it was so hard with the sharp pain in his shoulderblades, irritating and demanding attention.

The voice called more insistently, and Tyler gave up, blinking blearily. Josh’s concerned face rose into focus.

 

“Tyler! Are you alright?” he asked, eyebrows knitting.

 

Tyler realised he was lying on his side. “Um,” he managed. “Hurts?”

 

“Told ya it’d sting,” another voice said triumphantly. A figure next to Josh crouched, and Zeus’ grinning face came into view. “How does immortality feel, buddy?”

 

Tyler blinked. That was right.

Apparently he was a god, now.

 

“Uh, not much different,” he confessed. “Just sore.”

 

“Yeah, that’ll pass,” Zeus said, shrugging. “Give it a couple days for you to get used to ‘em, and you’ll be fine.”

 

“Get used to what?” Tyler asked, confused. He tried to sit up, and his back twinged again.

 

“Lemme take a photo,” Mark said. He was grinning animatedly, altogether way too excited for someone who’d just watched Tyler faint and groggily come back around.

 

“Ph-photo of what?” Tyler grumbled. “What’s going on?”

 

“Hold on,” Mark said. Tyler heard a camera shutter sound, and an iPhone was shoved in his face. He blinked, trying to focus on the screen.

He saw himself, lying ungracefully on the floor, face twisted into the confused grimace he was currently wearing. The robe Persephone had given him was gone, evidently removed while he was passed out so it wouldn’t tangle around him.

And, emerging from his back, ripped clean through the t-shirt, a set of huge butterfly wings stretched out along the floor.

They were pure white, with faint black patterns across them like noise on a television screen. In the centre of each top wing was a large, bright red circle.

Tyler blinked.

He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut, and stared at the photo again.

He had _wings_.

Not like the Erotes, with their birdlike wings. Not even like Brad, with his bat wings. These were different entirely – huge, delicate butterfly wings, like a fairy’s.

 

“Holy _shit,_ ” Tyler mumbled.

 

“Pretty cool, huh?” Zeus said, evidently pleased with his handiwork. “Figured they were appropriate since you’re married to a winged dude, I mean you gotta keep up with him somehow. Also the association of butterflies with mental states and the spirit, and whatnot. Symbolism and shit – Hera’s idea, she’s all over that junk.”

 

“Huh,” Tyler said. He wriggled his shoulders, stretching them out and trying to get a feel for the wings. He realised the twinging pain came from new muscles in his back, attached to the wings so he could move and control them. Trying to move them hurt, and he figured he needed to let them rest and heal before he could use them.

 

“They’re so pretty,” Josh said, running his fingertips lightly over the edge of one top wing.

Tyler shivered. “Stop it, they’re sensitive,” he said.

Josh laughed. “Are they, now?” he said, grinning mischievously. “Funny, that. Interesting indeed.”

 

Tyler sat up, gingerly rubbing his shoulders. “They’re gonna take some getting used to,” he admitted. “But, um, thank you. They’re really cool.”

 

“Yeah, they ain’t so bad,” Zeus said, chest puffing up proudly. “Anyway, you ready to head off on your honeymoon, or what?”

 

“Honeymoon?” Tyler asked. “You’re getting rid of us pretty fast.”

 

“They wanna get rid of us so they can keep partying,” Josh said, grinning. “Zeus was saying it’s kind of a downer for one of the grooms to pass out before the drinking even really starts.”

 

“Of course,” Tyler said, snorting. “Nevermind that I passed out _because_ of Zeus.”

 

“C’mon, we actually organised a really nice place for you to chill and be gross newlyweds and stuff for a bit,” Jesse said, holding out a hand to help up Tyler. “I mean, it’s the best we could do at the last minute, but I still think we did pretty good.”

 

“Where are we going?” Tyler asked, following Jesse and the other Erotes out of the hall. He saw a dark, wrought-iron carriage outside, four black, bat-winged Friesian horses stamping and whinnying in front of it. A similarly bat-winged man sat in the drivers’ seat, holding the reigns.

 

“We’re _not_ going on holiday in the Underworld,” Tyler groaned, and Josh laughed.

“Rude,” he said. “And actually no, Hades and Persephone just offered us a ride, since they didn’t think you’d be up to flying yet.”

 

They climbed into the carriage, sitting opposite of Hades and Persephone.

 

“You’re awake!” Persephone said, smiling. “Good to see you’ve rejoined us in the land of the living – so to speak. And _ooh_ , your _wings!_ ”

 

“How come you two aren’t staying for the party?” Tyler asked, trying to sit and adjust his wings. They couldn’t fold up neatly like Josh’s, sticking out cumbersomely, and he figured it was going to take some time to get used to fitting them through doorways and stuff. He settled for sitting with his shoulders angled to the side.

 

Once they were settled and the carriage doors were closed, the carriage lurched forward. It rumbled forward, then abruptly angled backwards as the horses took off into the air. From then on, the carriage proved to be a surprisingly smooth ride.

 

“We’re not super into parties,” Hades said, shrugging. “It’s just not our thing. It was nice to stay for the ceremony, but once Zeus attempts a keg stand, it’s a good indicator for us to get going.”

 

“It’s not _his_ thing,” Persephone corrected. “I don’t mind getting to catch up with everyone, socialise a bit. But yeah, once things start getting wild, I kind of want to leave too. But did you know, Hades wouldn’t even _show up_ to parties before we got married? He was so antisocial!”

 

“Yeah, well, I like parties a lot better with you holding my hand,” Hades said sheepishly. Persephone cooed and kissed her husband’s cheek.

 

“You know, it’s kind of weird seeing you two so domestic and in love and stuff,” Tyler admitted. “In the mortal world, we kind of had you pinned as, like... Persephone the unwilling abductee, Hades the kidnapper, you know.”

 

“Yeah, well, mortals don’t know everything about what goes on in Olympus,” Persephone said darkly. “The abduction story was my mother’s perspective. As far as she’s concerned, that’s what happened – me, her darling daughter, spirited away by some ill-intentioned rogue. That’s how she justified what she did later on, anyway. The famine, starving out mortals until Zeus was forced to give her what she wanted – me.”

She frowned. “Never mind the fact that I might have chosen to run away myself,” she said. “Never mind the fact that I might not have _wanted_ to return to her. I’m not stupid – I knew what would happen if I ate food in the Underworld. I didn’t eat the pomegranate seeds mistakenly.”

She sighed, gripping her husband’s hand. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, no,” she admitted. “I didn’t understand what being queen of the Underworld truly meant, and I didn’t realise how _difficult_ it would be until that first year in the Underworld. But I chose it, all the same. And I wouldn’t ever give it up now.”

 

“Besides, she does a pretty bang up job,” Hades added, and Persephone smiled.

 

Before long, the carriage thumped back onto its wheels, nearly throwing Tyler off his seat – it was Josh’s quick arms that kept him from pitching head-first into Hades’ lap.

 

“Ooh, we’re here!” Persephone said, clapping her hands. “I think you two are gonna like this place.”

 

Hades opened the carriage door, and Tyler peered out.

He could see blinding white sand, and a calm, dazzling ocean that rippled in all shades of azure and turquoise. Seagulls cried in the distance, and the waves gently rolled against the sand rhythmically, like a heartbeat. Heat flooded into the cool carriage.

 

“Where are we?” Tyler asked, hopping out.

 

“Just a mortal tropical beach,” Hades explained, slipping his sunglasses back on. “Hawaii, I think. We picked somewhere super secluded. I mean, we wouldn’t want Tyler to get recognised by fans.”

 

“Hawaii!” Josh gushed happily. “This is fantastic! Thank you both so much!”

 

“Don’t thank us, thank your friends,” Persephone said, smirking. “Josh, I believe it was Jesse who remembered you had a soft spot for warm beaches.”

 

“What do you think, Ty?” Josh asked.

 

Tyler smiled. “This is pretty awesome,” he said, digging his feet into the sand. “Beaches are pretty nice. Especially quiet beaches. Thank you so much, guys. And we’ll have to thank the others when we get back.”

 

“How long are we meant to be here?” Josh asked.

 

“Two weeks,” Persephone said. “That’s traditional for honeymoons, isn’t it? Oh, and you two should see the beach house...”  
  


She led the boys up the beach, up a pathway into the grassy head that led to a small wooden bungalow sheltered by casuarinas and palm trees.

She unlocked the door and ushered them inside. The house was quite warm, though someone had recently turned on an air-conditioner, and surprisingly large despite its humble outward appearance.

 

“It’ll cool down in here soon, sorry – this really was super last-minute,” Persephone said. “Fridge is on, there’s food in there and the pantry, but someone should come down each day to tidy up and restock if you need anything. If there’s anything you want in particular, write it down on the whiteboard.”

She indicated a small whiteboard stuck to the fridge with a pen clipped to it. “Write it there, and the housekeeper should pick it up for you when they go shopping to restock.”

 

She pointed out the utilities and house layout, and showed them where everything was. The house was pretty impressive – simple with wooden décor, rustic and beachy without being to the point of crude, or lacking in modcons or luxuries. Tyler smirked when he saw Josh visibly relax as Persephone explained that, _yes_ , the house had internet and the wifi password was stuck to the fridge.

 

“So, yeah!” Persephone said, clapping her hands and smiling. “There’s the house tour, and welcome to your honeymoon retreat!”

 

“We’ll leave you alone and head off now,” Hades said, visibly sweating – he obviously wasn’t a beach person. “Have a good time! Don’t get too wild.”

 

“We’ll try not to,” Josh said. “This is awesome, thank you.”

 

They thanked Hades and Persephone again, farewelling them as the black-clad pair climbed back into their carriage, waving as the horses sped away and the carriage lifted into the sky.

 

Josh nudged Tyler. “Hey,” he said, smirking. “Wanna go for a swim?”

 

Tyler had initially been worried the water would damage his wings, remembering how butterflies in his parents’ garden would be stranded in the rain as the water made their papery wings soggy and unfit for flying. But his were obviously not normal, fragile butterfly wings – they were resilient to the currents, and water easily rolled off their apparently hydrophobic surface in heavy drops when he stood up and out of the waist-high waves.

 

There was a jetty, and they took turns folding their wings and leaping off, dive-bombing into the clear water, eventually holding hands to jump off together. They found a small reef populated with soft corals and multitudes of unusually bold fish, including cleaner wrasse that swam away when they tasted the boys’ sunscreen, and clownfish that snapped at their fingers when they got too close to their anemone homes.

They tried to build a sandcastle, with a thick sand moat and wall to protect it from the incoming tide, but their efforts proved futile when an especially large wave crashed over it and melted the shell-decorated sandcastle into a sad heap.

They collected the shells from the sandcastle, and armfuls more of all the beach debris they could find besides, carrying it back to the beach house. Tyler’s favourite shells were the broken ones that revealed the shells’ spiralling interiors, delicate curving chambers that had once been some small creature’s travelling home. Josh’s favourites were the fragments of oyster shell, with their mother-of-pearl inside surfaces.

Josh got comically sunburnt. Tyler got covered in painful welts from a jellyfish encounter.

They returned to the beach house, showering off and then covering each other alternately with calamine lotion and aloe vera, and Tyler attempted to cook the sausages and green vegetables they found in the fridge.

The sausages exploded and the veggies turned brownish and soggy, and Josh proclaimed Tyler the best cook he’d ever dated.

 

“How many good cooks have you dated?” Tyler asked.

“Well,” Josh said, his eyes twinkling. “My ex, before Blurry’s love rule, managed to mess up _eggs_. She went to boil them, forgot about them, and the water boiled dry. We came back to the saucepan burned black, and bits of exploded burnt egg all over the kitchen.”

 

They collapsed into bed soon after watching the horizon eat up the sun, exhausted and clinging to each other.

“Isn’t first night of the honeymoon meant to be, like, consummation and junk?” Tyler asked, suddenly nervous.

 

“Oh god, that stuff’s all overrated,” Josh yawned, curling into Tyler and throwing a wing across him. “I’m too tired anyway. Why, you want to?”

 

“God, no, I’m too tired as well,” Tyler said, relaxing.

 

Josh noticed the sudden lax in Tyler’s muscles. “You weren’t feeling it?”

 

“Um,” Tyler said. “It’s gonna sound weird? But no. It’s like I’m, I don’t know. Suddenly fully ace today? I hope it’s not permanent.”

 

Josh laughed. “You don’t have to be into me all the time, it’s fine,” he said. “And that stuff can fluctuate, you know? Some days you’re cool with sex, some days you’re not. And that’s fine too. You’ve been reading about it, right?”

 

“Yeah, of course,” Tyler said. “I just, I don’t know, it’s traditional and all...”

 

“Screw tradition, we’re both exhausted and haven’t actually had a chance to sleep since your whole actual-death-experience,” Josh said. “Besides, we didn’t do anything the first night of the first time we got married.”

 

“That was different, we didn’t _know_ each other,” Tyler protested. “We do now.”

 

“True, but that doesn’t mean you have to be sexually available all the time,” Josh said, yawning again. “And besides, this is our second marriage, despite not getting divorced or separated. After you married me the first time as a complete stranger. In which you weren’t even allowed to see my face for weeks, and in which the entire relationship had to be a complete secret.”

He smirked. “I think we can throw tradition out the window,” he said. “Also, one more thing – we’re both covered in itchy sea-lice stings, your leg still hurts from the jellyfish, and I look like a tomato. You could have fried those eggs on my back and they might have turned out better, actually.”

 

Tyler laughed. “That’s fine. You make a beautiful fried tomato. And, um, thanks. You’re always so good with this stuff.”

 

“Full disclosure, if you’d wanted to do it tonight, I would have probably said no anyway,” Josh admitted. “We’re both so tired, and it’d just be too much effort for what would probably end up being very uncomfortable, hot and itchy sex. If you’d really _really_ wanted to, I’d have said yes, but only under sufferance.”

 

Tyler very gently kissed Josh’s nose, blowing on the inflamed skin. “I wouldn’t have made you if you didn’t want to,” he said. “It’s not fair on you. Especially since I pull the no-sex card a lot, and you’re always fine with it.”

 

Josh smiled. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “Now, I think I’m about to fall asleep.”

 

“Me too,” Tyler said, shuffling down to cuddle Josh more comfortably. Josh sighed and nuzzled into Tyler’s chest, and Tyler’s whole body filled with joy when he felt Josh start faintly purring. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed it.

 

Tyler fell asleep, and his dreams were full of many things, but mostly they were full of the flashing sides of bright fish and Josh’s hand in his as the world rushed up from below to meet them and envelope them both in bracing blue.

 


	13. I'm falling, so I'm taking my time on my ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am probably making this the last chapter. sorry fam. Just some fluffy nonsense to tie things up. Thanks for the ride <3

The next day, Tyler woke up late, having slept through the night in possibly the deepest sleep he’d had in months, and he sat up blinking, feeling better than he’d had since the first wedding.

“Sleep well?” Josh asked groggily, yawning as he woke.

“I think so,” Tyler said. “You know, Brad joked about death being the ultimate nap, but I think a good sleep is infinitely better than death.”

The both of them were too sunburnt and rash-covered to venture out onto the beach again, unable to even stomach putting shirts on over their sore bodies, so they remained in their boxers, had bacon and eggs (cooked by Josh, who turned out to be as skilled a cook as Tyler) and sorted through their shell collection, rinsing the salt and sand off each treasure piece in the bathtub. Josh discovered a cupboard full of empty jars – presumably for canning, but the boys filled several of them with their shells, setting the full jars around the house for decoration.

Tyler found a length of brown twine and a hand-drill in the kitchen, and set about stringing a leftover pile of shells, pumice stones and driftwood sticks onto the string. When he’d finished, he strung it from the ceiling like a sea-scented Christmas garland.

 

The two boys sat in the living room and admired their work, while Tyler massaged more aloe vera into Josh’s shoulders.

 

“It’s nice just doing stuff,” Josh said, flicking through tv channels with the remote. The television turned out to have Netflix, and after Tyler vetoed X-Files and Josh screwed his nose up at The Goonies, they compromised with an episode of Stranger Things.

 

“Yeah,” Tyler said. He popped the cap back onto the aloe vera gel, and Josh settled back, gingerly leaning into Tyler’s chest. “We spent so much time talking, but not actually doing much together, so it’s nice doing the opposite, I guess.”

 

“Yeah. I never knew you were so vindictive towards stingrays.”

 

“Those things are evil pancakes, okay. Evil, un-sweet, inedible pancakes that want to kill you. They were just waiting for us to put our feet down on the sand, alright? Lying in wait to strike.”

 

“Coming from the dude who freaked out saying I was too rough throwing away the jellyfish that _stung_ you.”

 

“Look, jellyfish are innocent, alright? They don’t even have brains. They don’t know what they’re doing. Just weird blobs totally unaware of their destructive power.”

 

“Are you kidding? Jellyfish are the worst. They’re un-sweet, inedible blobs of Jell-O that want to kill you. And worse, they’re see-through, so you can’t see them until they literally wrap their tentacles around your legs.”

 

Tyler inspected the welts on his leg. “I guess you’re not wrong about that last part.”

 

Josh stroked his fingers gently across the welts. “How are your wings feeling? Getting used to the muscles?”

 

“They’re okay. Not so twingey now, I guess.” Tyler shifted his shoulders, feeling the new muscles roll and stretch under his skin. He tried flexing them, and his stomach thrilled as his wings opened and closed, like one of the many unbroken cockles they’d collected, shell pairs still connected at their hinges.

 

“Maybe if you want, you can try flying with them soon,” Josh said. “Try jumping off the pier, and stuff. That could be fun.”

 

“Yeah, that would be cool,” Tyler said. “Maybe test them out tomorrow.”

He combed through Josh’s hair with his fingers. He still wasn’t completely over the delicate pink of the soft curls – his fingers had carded through them in the dark so many times, completely ignorant of the dusty rose colour, how delicate it made his hair look.

Really, there were a lot of things Tyler wasn’t over yet. Every time he’d glimpsed Josh the day before had sent jolts of surprise into his stomach – his van-gogh-painted arm stretching out to point at the coral, the sight of his feet kicking out into the water under them, or the times he’d watched Josh freedive to get a closer look at something in the water’s sandy bottom, dolphin-kicking down, body tinted with a blue cast, like a feather-winged siren.

He’d seen so many beautiful things the day before, from the multitudes of jewel-coloured fish to their treasure trove of beach debris, but the images that continued to flash in his mind consisted mostly of Josh.

 

“Hey, Josh,” Tyler asked. “What’s your biggest fear?”

 

Josh blinked, glancing back at Tyler. “Where did that come from?”

 

Tyler shrugged. “Just curious, I guess,” he said. “I know you’re anxious, and don’t like being socially overwhelmed. But I don’t know what scares you most. I don’t really know that one yet. But I guess it’s something I should know.”

 

Josh hummed. “It used to be losing you,” he said. “But then... that happened. And I got you back, in the end. So I’m not sure, now. What about you?”

 

Tyler rested his chin atop Josh’s head. “It used to be not ever finding anyone for me,” he said. “I’d play it off to family and friends, like, oh! Love isn’t that big of a deal! I don’t need a romantic partner to be happy or have a fulfilling life! But, as much as you tell yourself that, or the motivational self-help books talk about being your own island and junk, there’s still always a part of yourself afraid you’re missing out on something fundamental. Afraid you’re never gonna find it, that you’ll always be slightly hollow for the rest of your life.”

 

Josh shifted. “Are you still scared of that?”

 

“Well, I found you, didn’t I? So, not really. I don’t know what really scares me now, either. Probably stingrays.”

 

Josh laughed. “Yeah. Make mine jellyfish. And if jellyfish remain the scariest thing I can think of, I’ll be happy.”

 

“Me too.”

 

Tyler sat up, and Josh leaned back to rest his head in the crook of Tyler’s neck. “Do you... still feel slightly hollow?” Josh asked.

Tyler snorted. “Is that your equivalent of ‘yes I know we’re married but do you actually _like_ like me’?”

 

Josh flushed. “Well. Yeah.”

 

Tyler laughed. “No, I’m not still slightly hollow. I feel all full in my chest when I look at you, or think about you, or anything to do with you. Like my abdominal cavity got filled up with marshmallows. It’s nice.”

 

Josh smiled. “I’m glad. I’ve got the marshmallow feeling too, I think.”

 

“It’s pretty rad.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Josh settled back, and Tyler carefully rested his arms around Josh’s chest.

 

That night, they ordered delivery Chinese. Josh discovered that Tyler loved prawn crackers, and pushed all his crackers onto Tyler’s plate. Tyler read out both their fortunes from the little cookies, and the two concluded that they didn’t need to let little paper mass-produced vague statements rule their lives.

 

Tyler looped his arms around Josh’s neck, kissing him. “You taste like wontons,” he said.

 

“And you taste like prawn crackers,” Josh countered. “Bed?”

 

This time, when the pair collapsed into the sheets, Tyler rolled straight on top of Josh, kissing him hard.

“I knew prawns were meant to be an aphrodisiac, but I thought we were safe with prawn crackers,” Josh joked.

Tyler groaned. “When my fortune said to ‘get ready for a life-changing event’, I didn’t think it meant bracing myself for the realisation that you make terrible jokes.”

“Hey, you married me for better and for worse,” Josh said. “Which absolutely means my bad jokes.”

“The things I do for love,” Tyler sighed, attaching his lips to Josh’s throat, and smirking when he felt Josh’s breath hitch.

 

“ _Hmm,_ ” Josh said, voice strained. “So my jokes aren’t bad enough to kill your sex drive?”  
  


“Incredibly, no,” Tyler said. “I imagine that’s a relief for you?”

“Absolutely,” Josh said, his hands sliding down Tyler’s sides, palms tracing over every curve. They slid back up along Tyler’s back, and Tyler whimpered when he felt fingers gently tracing around the sensitive tissue where his wings attached to his shoulderblades.

“How’s that?” Josh asked softly. Tyler moaned in response, leaning back into Josh’s hands. When he cracked his eyes open to glance down at Josh, he felt his cheeks grow hot – Josh was biting his lip, eyes heavy-lidded and sultry.

“You-you’re a lot to take in,” Tyler admitted, arching back into Josh’s touch. “I almost want to turn the lights off. I can’t handle how gorgeous you are.”

 

“Now you know how I felt,” Josh said, smirking. Tyler groaned and tilted his head back, shutting his eyes again. He focused on the growing heat in his abdomen, the spikes of arousal that jolted through him with every press of Josh’s fingers.

 

“As much as I love watching you like this,” Josh said, voice low and slightly husky, “I kind of want to do more to you right now.”

 

“God, please,” Tyler moaned. “I’m not stopping you.”

 

He felt Josh’s hands slide down, cupping his ass, and opened his eyes again to watch Josh sit up, shifting them both so Tyler was sitting in Josh’s lap, Josh’s lips hovering close to his as their chests instinctively pressed together.

Tyler sighed, closing the gap to swallow Josh’s muffled whimper. Josh’s hips bucked up, grinding hard into Tyler’s crotch, and his head spun.

 

“It’s nice getting to, y’know, kiss you myself, since I can see you now,” Tyler murmured, pulling away. Josh giggled and dipped his head into Tyler’s neck, pressing kisses down his throat. His hips rolled up again, and Tyler moaned, grinding down with equal force.

Josh’s hands tightened around Tyler’s waist, lifting him up onto his knees. With Tyler kneeling in front of him, Josh leaned in and peppered kisses down Tyler’s torso, punctuating each kiss with a soft moan that shot through Tyler’s body, hot and searing.

Josh’s voice was maddeningly hot, and Tyler wanted more – wanted to force more of those sounds out of Josh. That, coupled with the wet, soft heat of his mouth against his skin was making his head spin.

 

God. He needed so much more.

 

Tyler couldn’t stop himself whimpering, wrapping his arms around Josh’s neck and curling his fingers in Josh’s hair. Josh’s chest vibrated in response, purring intensifying as Tyler tugged gently on his curls.

Josh pulled away suddenly, smiling and leaning back onto the bed. He pulled Tyler’s hips down, sitting Tyler down on his waist, and lay there, gazing at Tyler with the sweetest, goofiest smile on his face.

“Why’d you stop?” Tyler protested. His cheeks flushed at the sight of Josh laid out beneath him – he looked divine, skin sheening slightly in the bedroom’s half-light, eyes half-closed and glittering, chest rising and falling as he panted slightly. His hair was falling in his eyes, and his wings were outstretched on the bed, quivering slightly. Tyler was mesmerised. How unfair it was, that he’d had to miss out on this for as long as he had.

“Just wanted to enjoy the moment,” Josh said softly. “It’s nice seeing you in the light.”

“It’s nice seeing you _at all,_ ” Tyler said. “You’re, just. Wow. How are you so gorgeous?”

Josh giggled, covering his face with his hands bashfully. “Stop. Now _I_ want to turn the lights off.”

“Well, too bad. We’re never fucking in the dark again. You’re too beautiful for that.”

“Stop,” Josh whined, flushing under his sunburn. Tyler leaned down and pressed kisses to his nose, his cheeks, imagining that he could kiss every one of the thousands of freckles on Josh’s face and body, and still not have kissed him enough.

He felt Josh’s hands slide around to cup his ass again, gently kneading the soft flesh, and shivers ran down his spine. Tyler splayed his hands out on Josh’s chest, relishing the soft rumbling under his palms.

“Hm, hold on,” Tyler murmured, scooting back. “Wanna try something.”

He crawled down Josh’s legs, pressing the odd kiss to Josh’s stomach. Josh watched him curiously, brown eyes going adorably wide when Tyler’s fingers tugged at his boxers.

“I’m warning you now, this might be horrible,” Tyler said, pulling the fabric down and exposing Josh’s cock. He glanced down at it; it seemed larger, somehow, than it had in the dark when Tyler was just observing it through touch.

Josh giggled nervously. “Somehow I think it’ll be hard for me not to enjoy it regardless.”

Tyler glanced up at Josh again, before leaning down to cautiously press kisses to Josh’s hips, edging close to the base of Josh’s cock.

Josh hummed softly, and Tyler licked his hand, closing it around Josh’s cock.

Josh’s hum cut off with a sharp inhale. Tyler cautiously kitten-licked at the tip of Josh’s cock, and his cheeks burned when Josh let out an incredibly soft moan, mouth falling open as Tyler closed his mouth around the tip of his cock.

Tyler decided he wasn’t wild about the taste of the precum that smeared against his tongue, but watching Josh’s stomach muscles flutter as he whimpered, eyes shut in pleasure, was more than enough to make up for it. He massaged his tongue against Josh’s cock, and was rewarded with another halting gasp, followed by a half-choked whisper of “ _Fuck, Ty._ ”

Tyler didn’t take his eyes off Josh once, experimentally bobbing his head and hollowing his cheeks. He very quickly decided that making Josh feel good was probably the best thing ever. He was never going to get enough of the satisfaction of knowing _he_ was what was making Josh fall apart, the arousal that came from it.

Josh glanced down through heavy-lidded eyes and moaned when he met Tyler’s. “You’re driving me wild, Ty,” he slurred softly. “You’re _so_ hot.”

Tyler responded by humming around Josh’s cock, and Josh whimpered and threw his head back.

 

“ _Fuck,_ ” he hissed. “Ty, I’m already close. Please stop.”

Tyler obligingly pulled off, kitten-licking Josh’s cock one last time before sitting up. Josh sat up and hunched forward, cupping Tyler’s jaw and pulling him in for a hungry, desperate kiss.

“Want to actually do something to you before you make me come,” Josh sighed, pulling Tyler on top of him. “It’s hard when you get me so close, though.”

Tyler smirked in satisfaction, rolling his hips slowly against Josh’s. “What did you want to do?”

 

“Anything, god,” Josh breathed. “I will literally do anything for you right now. What do you want?”

 

Tyler chewed his lip. He was getting lost in the curves of the tendons in Josh’s neck, how they stood out and flexed as Josh panted. It was hard to think.

“Just fuck me?” he asked softly. “Just wanna watch you.”

 

“Of course, anything,” Josh said, leaning up to kiss Tyler. “Lemme – shit. Where’s the lube?”

 

Tyler leaned across to open the bedside drawer. “Here,” he said, pulling a bottle of lube out of the drawer. He tried very hard not to think about Persephone or Hades or the house staff specifically putting it there for the pleasure of the newlyweds.

 

He passed it to Josh, who sat up and reached around Tyler’s body to squeeze his ass again. Tyler lifted his arms around Josh’s shoulders, curling them around his neck, and gasped a little as Josh traced a cold, lube-covered finger around his asshole.

“ _Mmm_ , please,” Tyler murmured, hiding his face in Josh’s neck as Josh pressed up into him. He whimpered and pushed back as he felt Josh brush at his prostate, and whimpered again when Josh curled a second finger inside, gently opening him up.

“More, need more,” Tyler whimpered by the third finger, and Josh chuckled softly into his shoulder. He withdrew his fingers and Tyler waited, listening to the slick liquid sounds of Josh lubing himself up, the sharp exhale of breath into his shoulder Josh released as he touched himself.

“Ready?” Josh breathed, and Tyler nodded, sitting slowly back into Josh’s lap and letting Josh guide himself into Tyler.

“God,” Tyler exhaled when he was seated fully on Josh’s cock, rolling his hips to feel it inside him. Josh whimpered, hips bucking and making Tyler gasp.

“Lie back down,” Tyler said, pushing gently on Josh’s chest. “Lemme take over.”

Josh lay back into the pillows, mouth open in a soft ‘o’ as he looked back up at Tyler, eyes hooded and hungry. It made Tyler feel at once exposed and aroused, having Josh look at him like that. He wondered if Josh had always looked at him like this, and he whimpered openly.

“Not that you’re not gorgeous sitting pretty like that,” Josh murmured, “But could you please move?”

“God, as if I wouldn’t,” Tyler snorted. “Just had to take a second to look at you. You’re _divine_.”

He rolled his hips again, forcing a soft moan from Josh, and lifted himself up, trying to gauge how far up he could go before risking Josh’s cock slipping out of him. Finding what he figured was a good distance, he rolled his hips back down, mouth falling open at the hot pleasure spiking through his body. He settled into a rhythm, pressing his hands against Josh’s chest to support himself, unable to suppress his moans when Josh slid his hands around Tyler’s waist and began to lift his own hips to meet Tyler’s, thrusting into him.

Josh’s eyes fluttered shut and he rolled his head back, exposing his neck, and Tyler couldn’t stop himself hunching down to kiss and suck, relishing the soft moans and grunts that vibrated through Josh’s throat into Tyler’s lips.

“ _Fuck_ , Ty,” Josh whimpered. “Not gonna last. S-so close.”

“Yeah? Me too,” Tyler panted. “Go for it, baby.”

Josh’s hands tightened on Tyler’s waist, hips thrusting up punishingly at a pace that made Tyler’s mind go blank for a moment. Tyler whimpered when Josh moved one of his hands around to his cock, stroking it in time with his thrusts.

Then Josh was gasping, eyes open wide, hips stuttering through his orgasm. Tyler lamented the fact that he had never seen Josh come, that the way his mouth fell prettily open and his eyes stared wide into invisible stars had been unknown to him until now.

Tyler moaned, and for an exquisite long moment he was seeing stars too, body curling and trembling over Josh.

Josh’s movements slowed, easing until his breathing had calmed. His body fell lax, sinking into the sheets, and he gazed up at Tyler with a blissful expression, hands heavy and relaxed on Tyler’s hips.

Tyler registered how his body felt equally slack and heavy, and he realised he’d come all over Josh’s chest.

“Holy shit, Ty,” Josh breathed. “Holy shit. That was great.”

“ _Mmm_ , yes,” Tyler hummed, leaning down to kiss Josh. “So nice to actually _see_ you.”

Josh laughed against his mouth, and gently lifted Tyler off of him, rolling him over onto his back and settling between Tyler’s legs. He nuzzled his head into Tyler’s neck, his body weight a comfortable press that felt surprisingly soothing. Like Tyler would float up into the sky any moment, and Josh’s warm weight was keeping him anchored to the earth.

Tyler sighed, pulling his arms around Josh.

 

“Hey, Josh,” Tyler murmured.

 

“Hmm?” Josh responded in a half-asleep muffled hum, snuggling into Tyler.

 

“Who’s gonna turn the lights off?”

 

Josh groaned. “Do you think it’s a clapper?” he asked hopefully. Tyler clapped his hands together, to no avail. Josh let out an irritated grumble.

 

“Sleep with the lights on?” Josh suggested. Tyler snorted.

Josh sighed, and rolled off Tyler, climbing wearily out of the bed. He hit the light switches, plunging the room into darkness, and there was a weird nostalgia that came with the way Tyler heard and felt Josh crawl back into the bed, nuzzling back into his chest.

 

“Thank you, babe,” Tyler said, kissing the top of Josh’s head. “Love you.”

 

Josh grumbled sulkily, but after a couple of moments, Tyler heard a very soft “Love you too”.

Tyler smiled and shut his eyes, drifting off to Josh’s rumbling purr.

 

-

 

“Just jump, Ty, you’ll be fine!”

 

Tyler stood uncertainly at the edge of the pier. “But what if they don’t work?” he asked.

 

Josh snorted, rubbing a hand over his face as he treaded water below the pier. “First of all, I’ll be right here to catch you,” he said. “And second, that didn’t stop you cannonballing with me for hours the other day.”

 

“That was different!” Tyler protested. “I wasn’t _trying_ to fly. What if I try, but they don’t work? What if I fail?”

 

Josh blinked, understanding dawning across his face. Tyler stood there helplessly.

He wanted his wings to work. He could feel them fluttering at his back, itching to spread out. He wanted so badly for them to work. If they failed only for him to plummet into the water, he might not be hurt, but he’d be painfully disappointed.

 

“If they don’t work, we’ll try again,” Josh said encouragingly. “And again, and again, however many times it takes for you to get the hang of them. We’ve got all the time in the world for you to learn to fly, love. You’ll get there.”

 

“How did you learn to fly?” Tyler asked.

 

“After she formed us, Aphrodite threw each of us off the domain,” Josh said. “We had to figure it out pretty quick. Or, y’know. Splat.”

 

Tyler blanched.

 

“We’re not doing that with you, though!” Josh said quickly. “Don’t worry. This won’t be anything like that.”

 

Josh smiled at him. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “You’ll figure it out, I’m sure of it.”

 

Tyler took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said, his voice still coming out nervous. “I’ll try.”

 

He stepped back, giving himself a running start. His head was thudding with adrenaline. He took a deep breath, and ran towards the edge of the pier.

 

He reached the end, and leapt off.

 


End file.
